Yesterday morning Ian Poulter was only minutes away from pulling out of this year's Wales Open, before it had even begun.

However, after shooting a course record-equalling score of 65 the Milton Keynes based 27-year-old was pretty pleased he didn't.

Poulter (pictured) has been suffering with tonsillitis all week and yesterday morning he felt so bad that he contemplated pulling out.

But he remembered his second European Tour win in Morocco back in 2001 and, as they say, the rest is history.

"I haven't been too well since I got here on Tuesday and it soon developed into tonsillitis," said Poulter.

"I woke up on Wednesday morning before the pro-am and it felt like someone had put two cricket balls down my throat.

"After the pro-am, I just left the golf course and went straight to bed as I was too tired to hit any balls. I fell asleep for three hours which was a nice rest but I didn't have the best night's sleep and when I woke up on Thursday I wasn't feeling much better.

"But I remember how I felt before Morocco which was worse and I managed to win there, so I decided not to pull out and I'm pleased I didn't."

Understandably Poulter was slightly surprised with his joint position at the top of the leaderboard.

"It was a massive surprise and I had no expectations going out," said Poulter. "I feel my game has been coming around a little bit in the last few weeks even though I haven't been scoring, but perhaps I've been trying too hard.

"I went out there and didn't really try hard at all, largely due to my illness, and I just tried to get round the golf course, nice and smooth and try and get my tempo back and I hit some great golf shots."

Poulter shared the overnight lead with Australian Nick O'Hern who also shot a superb 65 to leave the pair a massive seven under par.

Sitting comfortably behind them was England's Jonathan Lomas who finished six under par. The trio headed a chasing pack of seven players who all finished five under par.

Meanwhile, first day attendance figures disappointed organisers.

Colin Montgomerie coupled with the great weather meant attendance figures were expected to be up on last year. But 6,184 people turned up yesterday, meaning the worst first day figures in the tournament's history.