GOLD COAST, Queensland -- Ian Poulter admits he is finding his return to competitive golf "mentally hard" as he prepares for this week's Australian PGA Championship at Royal Pines.
The opening event of the 2017 Race to Dubai will be 40-year-old Poulter's first appearance in a regular European Tour event for 10 months after he had surgery to correct a long-standing foot injury.
Poulter was forced to take 11 weeks off -- including the Ryder Cup -- and has only played a handful of PGA Tour and Asian Tour events since returning to action. But he has fond memories of playing Down Under, where he won the won the 2011 Australian Masters.
"When you take a big chunk of time off, it's hard mentally to get back in the frame of mind of playing competitive golf all the time," Poulter said. "I haven't ever been in that type of position before.
"I was trying to work out when the last time was that I hadn't hit a ball for 11 weeks, and I can't ever remember -- even as a kid -- taking that length of time away from the game. It was a nice break but the difficulty will come from being under pressure to hole putts at the right time.
"You can prepare hitting golf balls, you can play practice rounds, you can get yourself ready in terms of being conditioned to play, but there's nothing like being under pressure and actually having to do it for real. So it's about managing those expectations when you come back to play."
On the injury, he added: "The foot's good. To take myself out of trying to qualify for a Ryder Cup place, that was pretty hard to take because I obviously love that event so much. But a rest was needed to get the rehab done and to come back strong at the back end of this year, and after this week and next in Hong Kong we'll reassess and see where we're going to start next year."
If Poulter is to win his 13th European Tour title, and first since the 2012 HSBC Champions, he must see off stiff competition from the likes of world No. 7 and 2013 champion Adam Scott, his World Cup of Golf teammate Marc Leishman, and defending champion Nathan Holman.
