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Ian Poulter opens up on “tough times” that followed LIV Golf announcement

Published

1 year ago

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Ian Poulter, frequent European Ryder hero, has admitted that he feels the opposition to LIV is hard to understand but “fair,” although he doesn’t understand why “they take it so far.”

The 47-year-old winner of three PGA Tour events and 12 European titles was the star of episode three of the Netflix documentary titled ‘Money or Legacy’

During the episode Poulter discusses his no-loss record at the Ryder Cup singles, family life, getting older, and, of course, the decision surrounding an offer to join the Saudi-led money-rich tour.

After opening 2022 with a tied-sixth in Abu Dhabi, Poulter had a best of 30th over his next 10 outings, including missing the cut in Texas and at the PGA Championship.

Having missed the weekend at Southern Hills, and therefore again missing out on prize-money, Poults says: “Working for free doesn’t float my boat.”

Asked if he would join LIV, he replies, “It’s a business decision. It’s an opportunity, so we’ll see.”

He expanded on that once returning to his UK home, saying, “The fact of there being guaranteed money at play is obviously an attraction. People ask all the time, don’t you have enough already? But that’s all relative. I treat my golf as a job, and I want to obviously maximize every bit of my potential over the coming years.”

Last week, though, Poulter said he simply couldn’t understand the vitriol that has been directed at the players.

The Florida-based player told The Telegraph’s James Corrigan that he took to comfort eating to overcome the abuse and negative comments surrounding his decision to join LIV.

“Those sarnies, covered in HP sauce, on a daily basis, were great, delicious, as was all the chocolate and everything, but I was feeling awful, slovenly, and it was plainly not a pleasant situation.

“I would never admit that I was stress-eating, but who knows the way the mind works? I was getting ridiculous abuse and, in that sense, they were tough times.”

He continued by saying he felt appearing on the series had proved very positive, and that viewers had changed their opinion of him.

“After the first seven or eight months of having the same opinion shouted at me, I was worried how it would be received, but I have been taken aback by the response.

“I mean, scrolling through the messages, since it was released 10 days ago, it’s been one positive thing after another. The opposite of what I’ve become used to.”

Not only was the money a tempter, but that oft-quoted view on the choice to play less clearly weighed heavily on the decision.

“People ask all the time ‘don’t you have enough already?’ but that’s all relative. I treat my golf as a job and I obviously want to maximise every bit of my potential over the coming years. “

Poulter revealed in the episode that, “Over the 20-plus years, I’ve been away for over 50% of their [four children’s] growth, missing birthdays, walking, talking, first steps. It’s hard sometimes when you sit back and you’ve missed all of that, but yet you’ve hopefully secured them a nice path moving forward.”

Poults, who finished an ironic runner-up behind Henrik Stenson – European Ryder Cup captain until his own jump to LIV – at the 2009 Players at Sawgrass, is also more positive about his chances of making this year’s Ryder Cup team, but only if he does it via his own results.

“Look, I just want to be accepted as a normal member of a members’ organisation and as an independent contractor who wants to play golf globally–simple as that. We’ll find out if that’s possible soon enough, although I’ll have to play my way into the team anyway because there’s no chance I’ll get one of the six wildcards, whatever I do.”

The appearance on Netflix has clearly done him the world of good, and Poults appears ready to give it all he has over the next few months.

Now back to what he calls his “fighting weight”, the owner of IJP Design says he is “doing it more seriously than ever, with my training and my diet.”

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Man pleads for help after tornado destroyed golf clubs…Callaway come to the rescue

Published

2 days ago

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May 24, 2024

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On Wednesday, a tornado went through Iowa, devastating the town of Greenfield.

Among those impacted by the tornado was Bradley Gebbie, a golf enthusiast who lost his home, which of course included all of his golf clubs.

In an interview, Gebbie lamented the loss of his golf equipment.

“I lost a lot, including my golf clubs, I had like three grand into that.”

“I’d like to shout-out TaylorMade and Titleist and Callaway, I really need a new set. I lost it, and I just love golf.”

On Thursday, Callaway responded to Gebbie’s wishes.

Thankfully, Callaway was able to track down Gebbie’s contact info and sent him some new clubs.

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Delta Airlines issue apology after video of employees mishandling golf bags goes viral

Published

3 days ago

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May 23, 2024

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This week, a video of Delta Airlines employees mishandling the golf bags of the East Tennessee State men’s golf team went viral.

The official team X account posted the video, captioned “Nice of @Delta to handle our clubs with such care…”

The video already has more than 8 million views on X.

In response, Delta issued an apology to the golf team.

“We apologize to the ETSU Golf team and ask for a mulligan on how their equipment was handled. We’re in direct contact with the Bucs to ensure they have what they need to successfully compete in the NCAAs.” – Anthony Black, Delta Airlines spokesperson.

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Ben An shares his thoughts on LIV pros not being able to play in the Presidents Cup

Published

3 days ago

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May 23, 2024

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While speaking with GolfWRX, Ben An discussed whether or not he believes LIV players should be allowed to play in the Presidents Cup.

“Well, it would be a great addition to the team, but I feel like we’re missing Cam (Smith), (Joaquin) Niemann and maybe Dean Burmester. He’s been playing great and I saw last week he was playing some good golf.”

An added that the absence of the LIV pros is also a blow to the U.S. side as well, but that the rules are the rules.

“But, you know, it’s just the, just the rules of now, right? You know, it sucks for not having the team, but it’s kind of the same for the U.S. team, right? They’re missing a few players as well.

“We need to have a win in our national team, but it’s up to Mike and the PGA tour to decide. So it’s run by the PGA Tour, not the PGA of America, like the Ryder Cup.”

However, An stated that he doesn’t expect any changes to the rules for the upcoming 2024 Presidents Cup.

“So, you know, as of now, I mean, this year, I don’t see it happening. But hopefully, like I said, we’ll figure something out, we’ll figure this merger, or something out in the next few years and hopefully see them in the team because they, like you said, they’re great players, they will miss out.

“But I think even the teams we have right now, I think it’s pretty good. Playing in Canada will help us this year, you know, we’ll see what happens…We’ll miss them, but hopefully we have a strong enough team to compete against the U.S. team this year.”

Check out the interview in full below.

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