England's Ian Poulter will be on defence mode as he aims to extend his winning run at this week's Barclays Singapore Open which tees off on Thursday.

Poulter, a member of the victorious European Ryder Cup team, is relishing the opportunity to retain his title at the US$6 million event sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour.

He will be joined by an elite field comprising of world number three Martin Kaymer of Germany, four-time Major champion Phil Mickelson of the United States, Asia's first Major winner Yang Yong-eun of Korea and 2008 Barclays Singapore Open champion Jeev Milkha Singh of India at the Sentosa Golf Club.

Italian Francesco Molinari, fresh from winning in Shanghai last week, will also be in the mix alongside Ryder Cup teammate Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland in the event where for the first time a field of 204 players will compete on both The Serapong and The Tanjong courses.

The flamboyant Poulter, ranked 15th in the world, got off to a superb start to the season when he won the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in February and finishing tied 10th at The Masters.

His form took a slight deep midway through the season but he is hoping to rekindle with the winning feeling in Singapore after finishing in tied 15th place in China last week.

"I had a good start to the season, it got a little flat in the middle but I had a great Ryder Cup and hopefully that could help me to go on and defend this title," said Poulter.

Expectations are high for Poulter to perform and the Englishman is confident of putting in a sparkling performance.

"If you perform well on a golf course the previous year, there'll be expectations for you to do well again. I played exceptionally well last year and if I can put in a similar kind of performance it'll be nice.

"I like this golf course and it sets up very nicely for me and I've got high expectations for myself. I'm sure other people have the same expectations for me as well and I don't mind that," added Poulter.

Poulter believes a good performance this week will fuel his ambitions of securing the world number one position in the future.

"Look at the world rankings from a point perspective, Tiger Woods has dropped all of his points therefore he has come back to the pack. Nobody has really gone to him.

"With that in mind, anybody in the top-10 in the world who has a good six months can find themselves move up the world ranking higher enough to contend for that number one spot. And that's something I'm aiming for," said Poulter.