Ian Poulter: Pick me Tyrrell, please, for golf's World Cup

Ian Poulter is an unabashed fan of the sandbelt courses of southeast Melbourne. So it came as no surprise that he gave England's highest-ranked player at the World Cup of Golf, Tyrrell Hatton, a gentle nudge that he'd like to be on the England team.

Poulter and Hatton are among the favorites when the tournament starts Thursday at Metropolitan, one of famed sandbelt courses that includes Royal Melbourne and Kingston Heath, which hosted the World Cup in 2016. Royal Melbourne was the venue in 2013.

The highest-ranked player is responsible for choosing his partner in the 28-team, two-man tournament, and Poulter wanted to make sure he was at the top of Hatton's wish-list.

Matt Kuchar of the U.S.A. plays from a fairway bunker on the 6th during the Australian Open Golf tournament in Sydney, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2018. (AP PhotoRick Rycroft)

"We had a chat at one of the events and I managed to persuade him that it would be a good choice to pick me," Poulter said. The sandbelt "is pretty big lure; I love it down here and I knew I wanted to make the team. Unless you've traveled to the sandbelt, you really haven't experienced golf."

CRICKET AND GOLF

India team members Anirban Lahiri and Gaganjeet Bhullar were having a bit of fun Wednesday comparing their sport with the most popular in their country, cricket.

After joking they might sledge — or taunt — their Japanese playing partners in Thursday's first round — only because they were talking about cricket, where on-field banter is an accepted part of the sport — they said they'd be going to the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday to watch India play Australia in a Twenty20 match.

"Cricket is so big in India," Bhullar said. "There are a lot of cricketers on the team who actually play golf. Yeah, we both are really excited, and looking at the current form, I think India's got a better chance than Australia."

Lahiri has been to the 100,000-capacity MCG once, but Bhullar has never watched a cricket match there.

"I've watched a lot of cricket on television. I've never been inside one, but yeah, I've seen a lot of interviews in and around MCG. It looks really cool. We've always driven past it, so it will be really nice to actually go inside and witness India's victory."

And they both wonder what effect a win in the World Cup of Golf would have on the sport in India.

"Golf in India right now is picking up and right now we need a few guys to go out there on the PGA Tour, we need more faces on the European Tour," Bullar said. "We need a guy like Anirban, Shubhankar (Sharma), myself to win on the PGA Tour."

Lahiri adds: "Well, the good thing is that the cricket match finishes on Friday, we finish on Sunday, so we'll be relevant for the Monday morning papers."

Unfortunately for Lahiri's thought process, India also plays Australia in a cricket match in Sydney on Sunday night.

TENNIS ANYONE?

Matt Kuchar and Kyle Stanley are playing for the United States this week. Kuchar was coming off a poor final round of 75 at the Australian Open last week, so he put away his golf clubs and picked up a tennis racket at the home of the Australian Open.

"Had a day off yesterday, played some tennis with the family at Melbourne Park," Kuchar said Wednesday. "I got on the Australian Open tennis courts, it was a real thrill. Then kind of had a lazy afternoon with my wife. We walked a bit of the city, got a massage ..."

Kuchar arrived in Sydney last week from Mexico, where he ended a four-year title drought on the PGA Tour with a win at the Mayakoba Classic.

"Winning a tournament on the PGA Tour is hard to do and when you do it, you've got a great buzz going and a great sense of confidence and I'm hoping to keep it going," Kuchar said.

THERE'S A METHOD

Australian team members Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith play with different golf balls — Leishman with a Callaway and Smith with a Titlelist.

During the foursomes (alternate shot) portion of the tournament on Friday and Sunday, each will tee off with the other's golf ball so they are hitting their approaches to greens with their own ball.

"Except on the par-3s, when I'll hit my golf ball," Leishman said. "So I'll be teeing off the even holes, which is all the par-3s. I mean, it was a pretty easy decision, to be honest."

The Australians were asked what their strategy would be in the fourballs on Thursday and Saturday, when each team has two balls in play and the best score counts toward to the stroke total. The forecast is for rain on all four days of the tournament.

"It's looking at the weather conditions," Leishman said. "Par is going to be a pretty good score, to be honest. I think it's pretty easy to get too aggressive in fourball. You don't want to put yourself in a bad position and then put extra pressure on your partner to have to hit a good shot. It'd be nice to, even if you both have 20, 30 foot for birdie, that's better than having one guy out of the hole."

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Carlos Alcaraz knows what matters the most to him in 2026 and isn't shy about telling the world: He wants to win the Australian Open to complete a career Grand Slam.

That would make him the ninth man in tennis history with at least one singles championship from each of the sport's four most prestigious tournaments — and, at 22 years and just under 9 months old at the event's conclusion, the youngest.

“It’s going to be my first tournament of the season, and it’s really the main goal for me," Alcaraz told The Associated Press. "I'm going to do the preseason just focused for the Australian Open — to be in really good shape for the Australian Open, physically, mentally, tennis-wise. Everything.”

When play begins on the hard courts of Melbourne Park on Sunday (Saturday night EST), Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek, who is 24, both will be chasing the one major trophy missing from their collections.

He owns a total of six so far: two apiece from the red clay of the French Open, the grass of Wimbledon and the hard courts of the U.S. Open. So does she: four from the French Open and one each from Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

“Players who have been able to complete the four of them ... adapt in different situations, different surfaces, different atmospheres,” Alcaraz said. “And that’s what a real champion does: adapting themselves wherever they play. Different cities, stadiums, in front of different crowds. That makes a real champion. That’s why I’m really looking forward to doing it.”

The youngest man with a career Slam was Don Budge, who was two days from turning 23 when he won the 1938 French Open as part of a calendar-year Slam. Maureen Connolly has the overall mark: She was 18 when she completed her full set at the 1953 French Open, one of 10 women to win all four majors.

Swiatek has come closer than Alcaraz in Australia, getting to the semifinals twice. Alcaraz has been as far as the quarterfinals, including losing to 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic in 2025.

Currently No. 2 behind Aryna Sabalenka — who is a two-time Australian Open winner and was last year's runner-up to Madison Keys — Swiatek was asked which would mean more to her: winning in Melbourne or returning to the top of the rankings.

“I don’t need to choose which one is more important, which one is a priority. I’m still young. I have plenty of time to do different things and achieve different goals in my career,” came the reply. “I really don’t need to put that pressure on myself to do something in the next two weeks.”

Alcaraz, who recently split from longtime coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, is ranked No. 1 but won't be the favorite over the coming 15 days. That's his rival, No. 2 Jannik Sinner, who won the past two Australian Opens and appeared in the last five Slam finals overall.

He won the U.S. Open in 2024 and Wimbledon in 2025, meaning the 24-year-old Sinner enters 2026 on the verge of a career Slam, too.

“We are players who are pretty complete, I’d say,” Sinner said about himself and Alcaraz. “We can change the way we play.”

No matter when a career Grand Slam arrives — at age 21 for Serena Williams, for example, or 29 for Djokovic — it is significant and truly sets tennis players apart.

“They’re obviously already so successful, they’re kind of trying to check off the boxes of even more big accomplishments. That’s a huge milestone," said Taylor Fritz, the 2024 runner-up to Sinner in New York. “At such a young age for all of them, it's even more impressive."

Sinner's missing piece? Roland-Garros, where he lost last year's final to Alcaraz after holding a trio of championship points.

“It’s definitely a motivation,” Sinner told the AP. “We will push a lot to be ready to perform my best at every tournament and be ready for the most important matches. That’s what I want.”

As serious as Alcaraz is about getting the job done in Melbourne, he also can joke about it.

“I would trade Australia for Roland-Garros with Jannik,” Alcaraz said with a hearty laugh. “I would trade that, to be honest.”

FILE - Jannik Sinner of Italy waves as he carries the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup after defeating Alexander Zverev of Germany in the men's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, file)

FILE - Iga Swiatek of Poland celebrates winning the women's singles quarter final match against Liudmilla Samsonova of Russia at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, file)

FILE - Carlos Alcaraz, of Spain, kisses the championship trophy after defeating Jannik Sinner, of Italy, in the men's singles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, file)