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Poulter discounts Masters threat from Tiger

Poulter - Will now hope he doesn't have to eat his words come Sunday evening
Poulter - Will now hope he doesn't have to eat his words come Sunday evening

Ian Poulter is predicting that Tiger Woods will not even come close to winning a fifth Masters title this week.

Just a month ago Rory McIlroy described Woods as 'playing like an ordinary golfer.'

Now Poulter has added his view: 'I don't think he'll finish in the top five,' he said at Augusta.

'I think at the minute there's a couple of inconsistent shots.

'The shots he was hitting at the WGC-Cadillac Championship (where Woods finished 10th) were very inconsistent.

'You can't afford to hit shots like that round this golf course and get away with it. You have to rely on your short game an awful lot if that's the case.

'You can never rule him out, can you, he has such an incredible record round this golf course. He's won by plenty, he's won it quite a few times, we've seen him hit the shots that he's hit in various situations when he has put himself in trouble.

'He's got one of the best short games in the world - that's not going to disappear from him - and when he gets himself in a position where he's close he generally holes putts at the right time.

'He hasn't done it for a while, but I think that if he starts to hole the putts at the right time you are going to see the Tiger of old and that's dangerous.

'But I don't see it this week - I just don't see it myself.'

Last year Woods ended a four-month break from the game following revelations about serial adultery with a fourth place finish at Augusta.

Poulter had forecast a top five finish on that occasion, but his opinion has changed after seeing Woods go nearly two years without a victory.

If that was to end this Sunday with a 15th major Poulter said it would be 'an incredible achievement.'

Poulter caused a stir three years ago when he said 'I haven't played to my full potential and when that happens it will be just me and Tiger.'

Twelve months ago they stood first and fifth in the world. Now Woods is seventh and Poulter 16th.

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