Liberty National's tough conditions suit Poulter

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JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- The rain gear was off and Ian Poulter was resplendent in robin's egg blue pants and a white shirt with a band of surprisingly subtle purplish stripes as he made his way the podium.

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The colorful Englishman had just polished off a round of 72 that left him with the clubhouse lead at 3 under after the second round of The Barclays. Poulter certainly didn't look like he's just played through what was at times a driving rainstorm, but he had, and he gutted out one of the best rounds of the day.

Liberty National was playing every inch of its 7,400 yards -- and then some -- on this wet and windy Friday. Only four players who teed off in the morning wave shot better than Poulter, and one was his playing partner, Charles Howell III, who matched Bill Haas' 1-under 70.

The key for them both was maintaining composure and concentrating on the task at hand.

"It's the same for everybody, isn't it, so you have to just get out there and keep going," Poulter said with a shrug of his shoulders. "When you look at the leaderboard and see guys dropping shots, ... (Charlie) shot a great score to shoot 1 under par today. Anything in the red today is incredible."

Howell, who made three birdies and just two bogeys in weather he said seemed more suited to the British Open, returned the compliment. "It was nice to get in somebody's draft like that," the Georgian said while comparing the playing conditions to a major championship.

Howell's round moved him above the cut line from a tie for 106th. Poulter, on the other hand, is well in contention for what would be his first -- and long awaited -- PGA TOUR victory after seven wins overseas. He's made the cut in 11 of 14 TOUR events this year and only finished outside the top 20 once, including a second at THE PLAYERS Championship.

While the 33-year-old would rather have played in Thursday's balmy conditions, Poulter likes Liberty National, which was designed by Tom Kite on ground once used to store toxic waste. The green complexes offer Poulter and the rest a chance to try a variety of shots when the ball doesn't hold the putting surface.

"When (my caddy Terry Mundy) got here and walked the course before, he come back in and said, 'I think you'll really like the golf course,'" Poulter said. "I like the golf course because there are nice run offs and you have to use a little bit of imagination.

"I enjoy being up there on the scrambling stats (he's ranked third), so my short game is in shape, so I don't mind missing a few greens provided they are in the right spot because I feel I am going to be able to get up and down. Tough golf courses when it's wet and windy like this, I feel fine."

What Poulter called a "hell of a golf course" offered a devilish challenge on Friday, though -- even with some of the tees generously moved up in anticipation of the wind and rain. Poulter said he used four utility clubs and one three-wood to approach the par 4s on the windswept layout on the banks of the Hudson River.

"For instance, the last, granted, I've hit a poor tee shot, it's gone a little bit left, but I've hit my best 3-wood and I had 220 yards to the front of the green and my best 3-wood come up 10 yards short," Poulter reported. "So a 3-wood which would normally fly 250, 260 and this has gone 210 yards. That's how tough it was playing."

Poulter's round was particularly adventurous in the early going. He made a 9-foot birdie putt on the first hole to pull within a shot of the lead but promptly gave that back when he couldn't get up and down from a greenside bunker at No. 2. He made three birdies, four pars and four bogeys in his first 10 holes before parring home.

Of particular frustration, though, was the fact that Poulter bogeyed the two par-5s on the front and parred the one on the back. He blamed the miscues on carelessness but was willing to cut himself a bit of a break.

"I want to play as perfect as I possibly can, but I have to look at the two par 5s," Poulter said. "I went into one of them with pitching wedge, kind of got a bit of a wet fly and flew over the back of the green and made bogey. The other one, I didn't up and down from what I would have considered an easy up and down.

"Two frustrating bogeys but on the other hand I made a few good saves out there today, putts from sort of 8 and 10 feet which I managed to hole."

So who knows what he'll "tweet" later today, but suffice it to say that Poulter will be happy he's done and still in touch with the leaders.

"That out there today was as tough as any course we will play all year," he said.