GOLF:IAN POULTER beat Luke Donald in the World Matchplay Championship final yesterday to deny his fellow Englishman the world number one ranking.

In a scrappy encounter at Finca Cortesin Golf Club in Spain, Poulter sealed a 2 and 1 victory to become the first player to win both world matchplay titles on either side of the Atlantic.

Poulter, who also beat world number one Lee Westwood en route to the final, said: “To beat Lee and Luke was huge. I holed the putts at the right time in both matches.”

The Englishman added this trophy to his 2010 triumph in the Accenture World Golf Championship with three decisive holes on the back nine.

Both players had nudged in front at various stages, but a stunning 45-foot birdie putt by Poulter on the 12th brought him level.

Donald had gone ahead after Poulter left his ball in bushes on the eighth and had to concede. He slipped awkwardly while trying to escape from the undergrowth.

Poulter then went one-up with an approach to three feet on the 14th.

His killer shot, though, came at the 16th when he fired in to just 18 inches to go two-up. He closed out the match with a par on 17.

He said his victory was partly inspired by his lucky ball-marker and a determination to win on his son Luke’s seventh birthday.

Poulter lost his marker when he slipped on the eighth and was relieved to get it back thanks to an eagle-eyed official.

“I panicked when the marker wasn’t in my pocket on the ninth,” he said, “but luckily enough a referee found it. It has my kids’ names on it so it’s very precious and it really does bring me luck.

“I spoke to my little boy Luke today and he said ‘I want the trophy for my birthday’, so I tried to win it for him.”

Donald was also trying for the world matchplay double, his in the same year after he won at Tucson in late February, as well as leapfrogging Westwood to be world number one for the first time.

The world number two blamed putting frailties in the final for his loss. “Usually I can do it in my sleep but I struggled on the greens,” he said.

“I wasn’t too concerned with the (world) rankings, those kind of take care of themselves, but I’ll keep knocking on the door.”

Donald had ended world number three Martin Kaymer’s hopes of overtaking Westwood by beating the German 5 and 3 in the morning semi-finals.

Poulter defeated Belgian outsider Nicolas Colsaerts in the other semi-final.