Poisoned Poulter Maintains Lead

Written by Andrew Wild on Friday, 16 December 2011

After a difficult day in the sweltering Australian heat on Friday, Ian Poulter emerged on top for the second day in a row with a two shot lead.

Battling a bout of food poisoning, the Brit struggled on despite feeling drained and birdied his final two holes to sail clear of Australia's Matthew Giles.

"I woke up this morning, wasn't good at all. I had something bad to eat last night unfortunately, so I felt a bit weak out there today and it showed, I hit it terribly," he told reporters.

Fellow countryman Luke Donald had a difficult day too with a round of 70, making shots on some of the course's less forgiving holes but immediately surrendering them later in the round.

He remains confident going into the weekend, however:

"I hit a lot of good shots today but I've been struggling on the greens," he said.

"I'm finding it hard to see the line and missing my fair share of chances for birdie. Hopefully I'm saving them all for the weekend.

"I'm still in a decent position, I just need to get that putter going and get on a roll."

Meanwhile home favourite Geoff Ogilvy made the best round of the day with a 66 which leaves him at five under.

A slow start was quickly remedied with an eagle at the ninth for the Australian, and four more birdies on the back nine followed and he finished the day tied with Brendan Jones, Nathan Green, Brent McCullough, Kieran Pratt and Peter Lonard.

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Andrew Wild

Andrew manages all aspects of Sandford Springs including Food and Beverage, Golf, Finance and Memberships.

Andrew originally met the Chairman, Paul Gibbons, when he was an assistant Golf Pro at Reading Golf Club 28 years ago.

Interestingly, 15 years later Andrew was giving Paul a series of lessons, during which he mentioned there was a club in Hampshire which was up for sale. After going to visit the club, Mr Gibbons ended up buying Sandford Springs.

Andrew joined the company a couple of years later and six years on, he became the General Manager at the club they had first discussed all that time ago.

Andrew has a deep passion for the game of golf, which aids his enthusiasm in all his endeavours at Sandford Springs. Aside from playing, he enjoys simply being around the golf club and takes a great interest in looking after his members.

He believes that the atmosphere at Sandford Springs is second to none and finds it such a pleasure to be involved with the club that, in his own words – "Sometimes it doesn't even feel like work".