He’s one of the world’s form golfers, but England’s Ian Poulter made two mistakes that would make weekend hackers blush as he relinquished the Australian Masters title to Adam Scott on Sunday.

One of them he described as a “fatal error”. The other he said was just a bad shot.

The first came on the par-five 12th, which Poulter entered trailing Scott by just a shot.

Poulter’s tee shot found a fairway bunker.

But the killer blow came when he blasted his second into the bunker’s lip and it trickled into another.

After finding a greenside trap two shots later, Poulter needed to sink a seven-metre putt just to make bogey, which gave Scott a two-shot cushion.

But he denied he had paid for trying to cut things too fine from the initial sand trap.

“It wasn’t the fact that I was being overly aggressive. That lip wasn’t in play providing I hit an OK shot,” Poulter told reporters.

“I didn’t hit an OK shot … I would hit (the same club) 100 times out of 100. It wasn’t a mistake in club selection, it was a poor swing.”

Another bogey on the par-five 14th also hurt, although Poulter was still within two strokes after making birdie at the 16th.

But his chances of successfully defending his title evaporated on the 17th.

What should have been a regulation par putt from about a metre was botched when Poulter stretched to avoid stepping on Scott’s putting line and attempted to tap in, but was off-target.

Scott seemed on track for victory anyway, but Poulter admitted it made the Australian’s job much more comfortable on the last hole.

Regardless, he said Scott’s effort in shooting five-under 67s on each of the last two days made him a very deserving victor, with Poulter managing only 72 on Sunday.

“All credit to Adam to go out there and shoot five under,” Poulter said.

“I did make a couple of mistakes. Adam, he played very solid and forced me into a couple of silly mistakes, but he’s a worthy winner how he’s played today.”