Not offended - just genuinely curious, I've not met a non-food motivated poodle - if you find the right treat
Picky eater is very normal. I use a variety of treats from kibble to cheese and salami when training, and she enjoys working for her food and puzzle toys. But dinner? Meh, especially if she's even slightly stressed (new place, new routine, etc). I try and just let her not eat, rather than try and cater to her and create a picky eater. Toppings help. That being said - I know a lot of fat goldens. I doubt Annie will ever get fat with her eating habits - she eats as much as she needs, and no more.
Sensitive - very. She accidentally nipped me today while we were playing, and I yelped in real pain. She spent the next 2 min "apologizing", dancing around, licking my face, low tail wag -"I didn't mean to! I'm so sorry!" Traditional dominance based training would not be effective with her - clicker training works really well. She also gets bored quickly, so training needs to be varied. Sit twice, shake hands twice, lie down, then turn, then .... Never more than 5 reps, max, of any one thing, preferably no more than 2, even when first learning. Luckily - most things don't need more than 5 reps to learn, and with clicker training, she seems to mull it over later and the next time we try, has already figured out exactly what I want even if she didn't get it last time. She remembers the good, and the bad, very quickly - I stepped on her tail while trying to teach her to back to back look at me (we both look over our shoulders at each other). Now she jumps every time I move behind her at a sit.
Neurotic - not really, but she has a lot of prey drive, and can be mildly anxious if routines change and she doesn't know what's going on. That being said - she loves going new places and meeting new people - she may not swarm all over them like a golden though. She has a lot of "joy" to her - people meeting her for the first time often say "wow, look at her RUN!"
Dog sports - others can comment, but I think most conformation lines do well in sports. My poodle (conformation bred) definitely is a dog who needs a job - if i don't find one, she will. I'm in her first ever training class right now (intro to dog sports), and she's doing very very well and catching on very quickly.
I like goldens, but they strike me as less dignified and a lot less independent, and a bit less more forgiving to train. The goldens I know would cheerfully do something 15 times in a row. I meet a lot in the dog park, and the goldens adore me because I throw a ball or a stick, and will pet dogs who stand near me, but I couldn't live with the constant adoration, and need to be touching, and petted, and the need to carry EVERYTHING around, and the stealing of socks and other items that people drop. A lot of the goldens I meet are very rude, and jump on people, and jump on other dogs, and tend to be a bit clumsier/more inclined to knock people and other dogs over and barrel straight into people without putting on any brakes. At the dog park I go to, its "Oh. The goldens are here."
As for hair cutting - goldens shed, a lot. If you cut a poodle short every 4-6 weeks (google "retriever clip") poodles are very low maintenance, no brushing required. It takes me about 3 hours do a simple groom. I suspect I would spend about the same amount of time grooming a short no-frills clipped poodle as I would spend vacuuming and using a deshedding tool on a dog that sheds. YMMV.
For finding a breeder - maybe check the standings from last year at local sports comps, and see if you see any poodles, and who bred them?