Golf-Poulter confident despite 'smash on head with wet salmon'

By Tony Jimenez WOBURN, England, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Tournament host Ian Poulter is confident of mounting a title charge at the British Masters over the weekend despite having to endure "a smash around the head with a wet salmon" on Friday. The 39-year-old Englishman suffered every amateur hacker's nightmare in the second round, a complete mis-hit at the fifth hole that led to a double-bogey six. "I just hit a shank," Poulter told reporters after a one-under-par 70 gave him a four-under aggregate of 138, five behind joint leaders Soren Kjeldsen of Denmark and Englishman Matthew Fitzpatrick. "I've been there in the past and I'll do it again. They are surprising but I know what causes them, that's the annoying bit. "It's about committing to the shot as opposed to not committing to it. When I'm taking too much off a club I've got to be very careful because there's a tendency to go a little quick." Poulter went from the ridiculous to the sublime by producing what he described as one of the best up and downs of his career to get away with a par four at the 13th. "Seve (Ballesteros) would have been proud of that," said Europe's Ryder Cup talisman. "It really was outrageous." Poulter, the club professional at Woburn, believes he can use local knowledge to overturn his deficit on the leaders on Saturday and Sunday. "I'm on my home course and I know it well," he said. "There is nothing else I can do apart from press now. "Five shots back is very achievable on this course, the way I know these greens." (Editing by Pritha Sarkar)