Europe star claims Kim walked through him

Ian Poulter has claimed he was bodychecked by the USA´s Anthony Kim as part of a campaign to unsettle the European Ryder Cup team. Poulter, arguably the star performer in the defeated Europe team, refused to name Kim but dropped enough clues as to his assailant’s identity.

“I was body-checked by a certain member of their side on Saturday afternoon,” Poulter said. “It was someone who just decided that I wasn’t there and they would like to walk through me, as opposed to walking around me, as I was walking off the [14th] tee. He decided to drop his right shoulder into me. I said, ‘that was awfully nice’ and he said, ‘What?’

“He had played in the morning and hadn’t played very well [Kim and Phil Mickelson were beaten 2 and 1 by Oliver Wilson and Henrik Stenson in the foursomes] and decided to walk around in the afternoon and make his point, to come to the tee-box and walk right through me, which is not what you would expect from a fellow professional.” First Westwood is attacked by a ghost and now someone is walking through Poulter (surely a Poulter-geist). Spooky!

Poulter has followed team-mate Lee Westwood in risking accusations of sour grapes by going public with concerns over the USA’s tactics. “This is the Ryder Cup — it should be played in the right spirit and he should grow up,” fumed Poulter. “I don’t know if there was a strategy there, but it didn’t work. It made me more determined.”