Poulter Backtracks From Innocuous Comments Tangentially Related to Woods

Um, yeah, forget what Ian Poulter said about challenging the rest of the PGA Tour field for second place. Earlier this week, Poulter made these comments to the United Kingdom's version of Golf World magazine: "Don't get me wrong, I really respect every professional golfer, but I know I haven't played to my full potential and when that happens, it will be just me and Tiger."

Oddly, some people thought the remarks were inflammatory. Hardly. The guy's basically saying Woods is unbeatable and Phil Mickelson isn't. Big whoop. No worries, though; Poulter, despite not really saying anything, is already backtracking from ... not really saying anything. You see, he was misquoted:

"The whole answer to the question has been taken out of context," Poulter said after opening with a 70 in Dubai....

"If people do play well over a period of two years, you can get to No. 2. You can't reach Tiger," Poulter said. "It would be a dream to see Tiger Woods and then me in the world rankings as you look down. What's wrong with that? Is it being rude? Is it being disrespectful to everybody else? I don't think so.

Poulter admitted that he's been unable to get the controversy out of his mind; maybe he's worried Tiger will give him the Rory treatment or something. Eh, I don't think it's a big deal, and Poulter shouldn't have had to clarify anything. But when you're faced with the choice of apologizing for something you didn't say just to make sure Tiger doesn't go all "Stephen Ames" on you, it's probably the prudent thing to do.

Oh, by the way, Woods busted out a 7-under 65 during the first round of the Dubai.