So, Ian Poulter. Before we ask you to defend yourself against the accusation that you are more of a peacock than a professional golfer, why are you not competing in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth? It is, after all, the European Tour's flagship event and seven of the world's top 21 players are competing. Nick Faldo, the Europe Ryder Cup captain, has come from the United States to run the rule over possible members of his team and you choose to cross the Atlantic the other way to compete in the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial in Texas. Why?

“I have no results around Wentworth,” Poulter said. “I think I have missed five cuts in the appearances I have had there. That is not a record I like. I don't putt well on the greens there. I think I had 35 putts a day last year. You don't figure in a golf tournament if you have 35 putts a day. It is eight putts a day too many.”

But saying it is all down to the greens is surely a case of a bad workman blaming his tools? “No,” he replied. “It is the greens. I read my line, putt, hit on the line and if the ball decides to wander off line and snake, like it does on those greens, you are going to find yourself in a position where you miss putts. You then think you're putting badly, you start double questioning yourself, questioning the reads and you get yourself in a situation where you start telling yourself you're putting badly when you're not. I don't want to be in that position.

“It is a shame. I have been going to Wentworth from the age of 15 or 16. I have probably walked around it more times than I have played it. I need to perform in every tournament I play in this year because I need to make the Ryder Cup side. I can't play a course like Wentworth, which I haven't performed on, and devalue myself, devalue my world ranking and not pick up valuable Ryder Cup points.”

But you will get more world ranking points at Wentworth than in Dallas. “You think? Not if I have 35 putts a day. You can't keep making a mistake. I have spent more money at that tournament than I have earned. If it was a business, why would I keep setting light to £50 notes to play in it? Let's try something different.”

All right then, let's turn to the other issue. What is your response to those who accuse you of caring more about your clothes than your golf? “That is people's perception because I do what I do within golf because I enjoy it. I enjoy what I wear. I enjoy being the character that I am. There needs to be characters in the game of golf.”

Whether Poulter is a character or not may be open to question, but he is certainly fashion conscious. “When I walk on the golf course I don't have the issue of ‘I don't feel good today' because I feel good every time I walk on to a golf course,” he said. “I am happy in what I am wearing. I get comments from people outside the ropes. I like the way Payne Stewart dressed. Whatever tournament he was in I always wanted to see what he was wearing. To put on something that you have had an input in designing and you like the look of makes you feel good. My initials, IJP, comprise the logo of my clothing company. We started last summer and we have been exceptionally busy.”

Greg Norman is the man who has most recently started a clothing design company and, for this alone, Poulter is an admirer of the Australian. “Designing golf clothing is something I'm passionate about,” he said. “I want to develop a brand the way Greg Norman has. You can't be dedicated to thinking about your golf swing when you're on a plane coming back from America. It is too much. I don't want to get to the stage of being tired when I play golf because my brain is thinking about it 24/7.”

The design of the company logo came about as follows. “My dad called me a couple of years ago and said, ‘I've done the logo. Why don't you have a look?' So he e-mailed it to me in New Orleans. Within five minutes I had re-sketched it and sent it back. That was it. Dad is very, very arty. He used to take great pride in spending hours helping me with my art homework. My mum was good at art and that is what I was good at at school. I got art and graphic design GCSEs.

“I have had a very big influence in the way [golf clothing] companies have changed in the past five years. Americans didn't care what they wore. They wore black shoes, navy trousers, brown belt, red hat, green shirt. They were happy just to go out and play golf, without worrying about what they looked like. Now you have a look.

“But it is wrong to think I am allowing my clothing line to get in the way of my golf. It is refreshing to have something to do outside golf.”

Poulter, 32, is ranked No28 in the world as well as eighth in the Ryder Cup world points list and seventeenth in the European points list. An improvement in the world points list will probably result in an improvement in the other and this would make him happier.

“Personally I have underachieved,” he said. “My early years on tour were very much missed cut, missed cut, top ten. Missed cut, win, top five. Very erratic. That is something I have worked on and I have become more consistent. That is why I feel I should have won more tournaments.

“I am 10 per cent better as a player than I was last year. I've been very consistent in big tournaments. You don't make 19 cuts out of 21 in major championships if you are not playing well or not good at playing tough golf courses. It just hasn't happened yet. But it will. I have big ambitions. I want to win major championships. How many? As many as I can get my hands on.”

— Ian Poulter Design supplies clothing to 140 golf clubs throughout Britain and Europe as well as Japan.