A horse fly bite took much of the sting out of Ian Poulter’s WGC – Bridgestone Invitational preparations.

Poulter was bitten on Saturday night on the left arm and on the eve of the $US 9m event the swelling was still obvious around his elbow region.

“Ive been bitten by horse flies before and it’s been pretty bad and I just thought it was that,” he said.

“I woke up Sunday morning and I had a fairly red area.

“I was booked to play golf with Tim Henman and Charley Hull at Woburn that day and was having a nice game of golf, but as the round was going it was getting worse.

A horse fly takes the sting out of Ian Poulter’s Bridgestone preparations. (Photo – Eoin Clarke/www.golffile.ie)

“I got off the course and went straight to A&E (Accident and Emergency) and I was there three hours and eventually saw a doctor who wanted to prescribe me the same antibiotic as I was already on.

“I spoke to my doctor back in the US who wanted to prescribe me a different anti-biotic, but the hospital wouldnt give it to me.

“So I woke up Monday morning and it was worse and I panicked.

“I went private but they struggled to find this drug.

“At 9pm on Monday night, I had the IV and when I woke up on the Tuesday the angriness of the cellulitis (??) had just started to ease off.

“I had to take an anti-coagulant so I didn’t get any clots when I flew here. I didnt hit any balls Monday, Tuesday and it’s still swollen today. But it’s in a much better situation.

“I was really worried, Sunday night Monday morning. These are two important weeks and yet again my prep has been affected. it’s been a really tough year in that regard with all those niggling injuries and illnesses.

“But I’m confident now that I can move foward and play golf in two big weeks and see how I get on. It’s another knock  back, but we’ve had a few this year and I’ll come back stronger.

“I’ve hit some balls and it’s not uncomfortable, it’s just very itchy. The fluid is still in there so I cant itch it and wont itch it, even though i’m dying to. I’ve had some cortisone to take the itchiness away.”

Poulter teed-up on the Firestone Country Club course in 12th appearance in the WGC event and with his best being a share of third place in 2012 behind American Keegan Bradley.

However the Medinah Ryder Cup winning hero is still three spots outside of qualifying automatically for a fifth straight European Ryder Cup team but then Poulter is not concerned.

“At this minute I’m not thinking about the Ryder Cup at all,” he said.

“I’m just thinking about trying to play golf because it’s been a problem several times this year. So I just need to take this right back to basics and say okay let’s get out of the golf course, enjoy it for what it is and see where it takes me.”