Ian Poulter Diary: Still in the hunt.

Ian Poulter has long been one of the most colorful and most successful golfers on the European Tour. The winner of seven European Tour in his eight year career. He won more than $1million last year and posted his best-ever tie for 13th place in the 2007 which earned him a return trip to the 2008 Masters. When he arrived, Poulter recorded the first 2008 hole-in-one on the par 3 16th hole and was tied for third after 36 holes with rounds of 70 and 69.

Poulter is writing an exclusive, web-only weekend diary for Masters.org on his weekend experiences. This is his first entry.

It's a shame really what happened today (three-over75). I played really, really well, made 16 pars, and just made bogey and double bogey on Nos. 9 and 10.

I had two really bad lies on those holes. On the ninth, I was on the most severe downward slope out here and I had a really tough shot and made bogey.

Then on No. 10, my ball had a lot of mud on it from the early rains and my approach shot was above my feet. I tried to cut in an 8-iron, but that's a recipe for disaster and that's what happened with an ugly six.

Other than that, it was fine. I still think I'm in the hunt and still think it can happen Sunday. Nick (Faldo) came from a long way back one year to show us how it can happen.

After coming off the course, it seemed like I had been there a long time. It was almost 7:30 p.m., when I finished and had my dinner on the table by 8 p.m. I passed on hitting balls because it was already pretty dark and so I just headed home.

I had Beef Wellington for dinner with a bit of lamp chops and some potatoes on the side. Everything pretty normal as it is.

When I got home, I just put my feet up, talked a bit with the family, watched a bit of golf on TV, and got ready for another day.

With the late tee time Sunday I am facing a bit of a layover, a pretty easy morning. Thankfully, I can sleep in late when I had a late tee time. I will get up about 8:30-9 a. m. and spent time with my family.

I have my wife, Kate, here along with my kids, Luke and Aimee-Leigh, which makes it nice to all be here together.

When I'm doing well like this, I usually get a lot of calls and messages and this was certainly no exception. When I got back to my house, I probably had a dozen messages from people back home in England, wishing me good luck, and congratulating me on my play.

It's a six-hour time difference over there, so it's about midnight back home when I finished, but everybody is so keen on golf, they all stay up and watch.

After breakfast, we'll just sit out and watched some TV and chat a bit. There will be no football (soccer) on TV Sunday morning, but my team, Arsenal, has a big match which will be shown early Sunday.

By the time we get to the car and go over to the club, it will be about noon. The house I'm renting is only about 15 minutes from the club.

This is always going to be one of the most important tournaments of this year. It's one of the four keys pillars to my season and certainly everybody knows this.

This was already a big week for me because we launched the new clothing line on Thursday, but really golf is more important than business. Still it's exciting to be here and play well and get to play late on television.

Tomorrow I probably wear some green. I'm sure we could find some pants to match that Green Jacket if I won one Sunday.

It can be done. I'm still top ten (T7) and ready to have a go at it on Sunday.