Poulter's charge halted by shank

Cape Town - Ian Poulter was cruising to victory at the Honda Classic on Sunday, leading by three shots and appearing in complete control of his game.

Leading the field in greens in regulation for the tournament, Poulter stepped onto the fifth hole's tee box and pulled an 8-iron to attack the challenging the par three.

This is what happened next:

Poulter went on to card a double bogey 5 on the hole.

"A beautiful shank," he described it.

"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," he said. "I was in position a lot. As I said, 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," he concluded, "I was internally very angry, shall we say."

Englishmen Ian Poulter and Paul Casey shared the lead on Sunday night as the US PGA Tour's rain-delayed Honda Classic hurtled toward a manic Monday finish.

Both Poulter and Casey were at seven-under par, Poulter through the first seven holes of his fourth round and Casey through nine holes when darkness halted play on a marathon day at PGA National