PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. -- You wouldn't see that in the Ryder Cup, not from Ian Poulter.
That is perhaps the most perplexing aspect to the stylish Englishman's game, his nearly rock solid play in the biennial team matches compared to his perceived ordinariness in stroke-play golf.
Poulter, 39, is far from ordinary, and his worldwide record is impressive, if not as abundant in victories as some would like.
So there he was Sunday, seemingly in control of the Honda Classic, not having made a bogey throughout a long weather-delayed day of golf ... and he hits a shank.
NBC's Johnny Miller almost predicted some sort of gaffe was coming, and sure enough, Poulter's ugly shot off the hosel of his club at PGA National's par-3 fifth went into the water, leading to a double-bogey.
He then found the water on the sixth hole, leading to another bogey, before righting himself with a birdie at the seventh as play was halted at the Honda Classic due to darkness.
But all of a sudden things are a bit more tenuous for Poulter as he attempts to win his first stroke-play tournament in the United States on Monday morning.
"You don't really want to know because ... trust me, you don't; it's not for newspaper or Internet worthy,'' Poulter said when asked what he said to himself after that dubious shot. "I was pissed. I was seriously pissed. Having a three-shot lead, I didn't even realize that I had a three-shot lead at that stage, but I was in cruise control, shall we say, not making bad swings. I was in position a lot.
"You take your foot off the accelerator for one second, all of a sudden, you find yourself completely out of position making an easy double-bogey.
"So, yeah, I was internally very angry, shall we say. And when I do that, obviously my heart rate goes up slightly and obviously that sometimes is what needs to kick in to kick in the adrenaline. So the shot on 7 was fueled with adrenaline, because I was so pissed off.''
The shanked shot found a water hazard that is not considered in play on the fifth hole.
But the birdie at the seventh gave Poulter a share of the lead with fellow Englishman Paul Casey -- who lost in a playoff last week at the Northern Trust Open. Patrick Reed is a stroke back and Phil Mickelson -- facing an 8-footer for par at the ninth -- is three behind.
The weather-marred event suddenly has a compelling leaderboard with a couple of hours of golf left to be played, with Poulter still in position.
His PGA Tour trophies do not match the number of fancy cars he keeps in his garage, and that will not change on Monday when the final round resumes at 8 a.m. ET. But undoubtedly the flamboyant golfer who makes his U.S. base near Orlando would love to secure a victory, which, somewhat surprisingly, would be just his third PGA Tour title.
Poulter, 39, known as much for his car collection (several Ferraris, a Rolls Royce) stylish clothes and Ryder Cup prowess, took the third-round lead with a 66 and hadn't make a bogey all day until those issues at the fifth and sixth.
And a victory would be significant, given the fact that despite all his worldwide success in the game, he has just those two PGA Tour victories, although big ones -- the WGC-Match Play Championship and the WGC-HSBC Champions.
Ranked 36th in the world, Poulter has struggled to add victories to his résumé in recent years. His last win came at the 2012 WGC-HSBC Champions in China, barely over a month after he played out of his mind at the Ryder Cup.
Remember that?
He made five straight birdies to conclude his Saturday match at Medinah -- partnered with Rory McIlroy -- to steal a point from the Americans, then won his Sunday singles match to run his record to 4-0 for the week as Europe rallied for a 14½ to 13½ victory.
Last year he was just 0-1-2 -- he's still not lost a Ryder Cup singles match -- part of a disappointing season that rarely saw him contend.
In addition to his two PGA Tour titles, he has 12 European Tour victories -- the WGC wins count on both tours -- and has won match play championships on both tours.
Asked once why he was so proficient at match play (he is 12-4-2 in the Ryder Cup), Poulter said it was simple: "I hate losing,'' he said. "Sorry. I hate losing. Absolutely hate it. Really detest it badly. Really badly.
"I don't know any great sportsman that's a great loser, to be honest, providing you do it in your own space and relieve the anger without anyone seeing it. I've always taken defeat pretty bad. I don't enjoy it.''
And yet, he has always had difficulty funneling that attitude into stroke-play events. Poulter, who turned pro in 1996, has been playing the PGA Tour full time for 10 years.
Perhaps the untimely shank turns into a form of motivation.
"It was a lack of concentration,'' he said. "I've tried to take too much off an 8 iron and hit a beautiful shank. And obviously you're out of position right there. So it was an easy double bogey and poor tee shot on the following hole.
"But I'm pretty pleased with the golf I've played throughout the whole of today. I haven't really made many mistakes, at all. I've put it in position an awful lot, which is encouraging right now, and if I do that tomorrow, then I'm going to be in a good position.''