Poulter Not Surprised at McIlroy Major

Poulter and McIlroy

Ian Poulter insists he was not surprised to see Rory McIlroy shake off his Masters misery and open his major account at Congressional.

Poulter hailed his Ryder Cup team-mate as one the best ball-strikers in the game and claims his eight-shot victory at US Open came as no shock to him.

The Englishman, who will compete at this week's PGA Tour event - the Travelers Championship in Connecticut - said of McIlroy: "Look at his first rounds in majors. It was a case of when, not if.

"He's as good a ball-striker as I've ever seen, he swings it naturally - there's not much technically he needs to worry about.

"He hit 62 of 72 greens at the US Open. There's no way I could ever do that.

"Not too many people can do that, especially after The Masters when everyone probably would have given him the year off.

"Two months later he was playing like it never happened - amazing.

"He's just clearly better than anyone else. There's so few really class ball-strikers out here - I know that sounds silly, but real class ball-strikers like Nick Price and Greg Norman.

"Greg Norman in the mid-80s is who he is. He just completely outplays everyone with no fear.

"Some people are being aggressive and they're just cavalier. He's not cavalier."