HARRISON, N.Y. -- He broke out those electric red, white and blue Union Jack pants at Royal Troon in the 2004 British Open, for goodness sakes.

So is anyone really surprised that the flamboyant Ian Poulter was glued to the television set on Saturday morning to watch England play its first round game in the World Cup?

The 30-year-old Brit estimated he got to see about 82 minutes of the 1-0 victory over Paraguay before he had to go practice -- and we use that term loosely -- for the third round of the Barclays Classic at Westchester Country Club.

“I was off at 11:15 and I walked on the practice ground just after quarter to (11),” Poulter explained. “I had 20 minutes to go. Bizarre. I hit a couple of shots with each club, walked on the putting green, hit five putts (and) walked on the tee.”

About five hours later, Poulter walked off the course and signed for a sterling 65 that moved him from a tie for 70th and into a share of seventh. He’ll start the final round of the $5.75 million event just three strokes off the lead held by Billy Andrade, as a result.

Poulter was one of just 11 players who broke 70 on a difficult afternoon as the winds swirled through the trees and gusted to more than 30 mph. Conversely, 61 of the 84 players who survived the cut shot over par on this sunny, brisk and chilly day.

“With the weather conditions and not having too much practice after watching England football, I was a little bit surprised obviously to go out there and get it that many under par when guys are shooting quite a few over par,” admitted Poulter, who is tied with Stuart Appleby and Luke Donald.

“It’s always nice to go out there and … do a good job.”

Poulter said he and his manager have been working on his mental approach. He wants to just go play golf -- like he did on Saturday -- and forget about results.

“If your expectations are too high, and you’re not achieving, then you’re very hard on yourself,” he said. “If you don’t have any expectations walking out on the golf course and you just let your golf game do the work, it’s funny what this game will reward you with.”

Indeed. Poulter made seven birdies on Saturday and dropped just one shot to par. He holed a bunker shot for one birdie and two-putted from 34 feet for another on the par-5 fifth. All the rest of Poulter’s birdie putts came from inside 10 feet.

By the time Poulter, who started on the back nine, made the turn, he had moved to 1 under for the tournament. His climb up the leaderboard accelerated on the front as he made four birdies over his final five holes.

“It’s a tough, tough golf course, especially when it’s playing a 30 mile-an-hour wind,” Poulter said. “It’s a tough golf course with no wind. So when you can go out there and roll a few putts in and hang on on the difficult holes, it’s one of those days.

“It doesn’t happen that often that you can chop straight through the leaderboard. But it’s nice when it does.”

Ian Poulter has never finished above fourth place on the PGA TOUR. (Messerschmidt/ WireImage)

Poulter had a similar experience several years ago at the 2003 British Masters at Forest of Arden. He made the cut on the number but shot a third-round 63 -- with a three-putt bogey on the last hole -- to climb into contention. Poulter went on to finish second.

“So funny things can happen if you stay patient,” he said.

Poulter, who has six European Tour victories to his credit, has never finished higher than fourth in the United States since joining the PGA TOUR in 2004. He’s got a golden opportunity on Sunday, and he knows it.

“Win the golf tournament -- that’s why I’m here,” Poulter said. “I’ve given myself a great opportunity with shooting 6 under today. I’ll go out there with a lot of confidence tomorrow.

“I’ll go out and enjoy myself. Don’t have any expectations, just relax and play golf like I know I can and we’ll see what happens.”

Too bad England isn’t playing again on Sunday morning.