Ian Poulter, Europe's highest points scorer at Valhalla, claims to have been deliberately shoulder-barged by an American golfer, believed to be Anthony Kim, during the fourballs on Saturday.

Television pictures appear to show a collision between Poulter and Kim as the Englishman walked toward the 12th tee, although Poulter refused to name the player involved.

Kim, who revelled in his role as the United States' talisman, had been following the match as a spectator after he and Phil Mickelson lost 2&1 to Henrik Stenson and Oliver Wilson in the morning's foursomes. Poulter, who was playing with Graeme McDowell, eventually won a highly charged match against Kenny Perry and Jim Furyk on the 18th green.

"He hadn't played very well and decided to walk around in the afternoon and make his point," he said. "As opposed to walking around me as I was walking off the tee, he decided to drop his right shoulder into me.

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"It's not what you'd expect from a fellow professional," Poulter said.

In the wake of such an emphatic defeat, Poulter's comments risk looking like no more than sour grapes. Something Lee Westwood has already been accused of after he described some of the abuse he received during the event as "shameful".

Westwood also complained of being woken by a phone call to his hotel room at 12.30am on the morning of the singles matches and that his parents, in another room, had been woken at 4.30am by a prank caller. Westwood, who won only one point at Valhalla, "That's the only negative part of the week for me," he said. "I have been abused from start to finish. Some of the stuff that's been said to me this week is shameful."

The United States' victory at Brookline in 1999 was marred by abuse from American spectators, but Westwood added: "1999 was fine for me. The last day it got a little out of hand but before then it was largely fine."

Westwood revealed that one abusive comment was a "particularly nasty reference to my mother". During yesterday's singles matches, a man dressed in a white sheet leapt out at him on the walk to the sixth hole.

"He just jumped out and went "Whooooo" to my face. He was still there further up the fairway. I should have set two of the blokes dressed as leprechauns on him; instead I set two policemen on him," Westwood said.