For the first time in three years, Ian Poulter is playing in a professional event alongside non-LIV golfers.
The 50-year-old Englishman is competing in the US Senior Open, his first senior major championship after becoming eligible this year. Poulter is playing against his former competitors and Ryder Cup teammates, such as Padraig Harrington and Colin Montgomerie.
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Poulter has a contentious relationship with the DP World Tour and the Ryder Cup after his move to LIV Golf. He’s effectively made himself ineligible for the captaincy, which he once seemed destined for, and while he’s finally paid his DP World Tour fines for playing on LIV, it wasn’t without public disgruntlement.
But now he’s competing alongside his former teammates, and Poulter revealed how they’ve treated him during the tournament.
Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images
Ian Poulter said playing with former Ryder Cup teammates has been ‘special’
Poulter, who is in the top 10 of the Senior US Open at one under par, described the feeling of being back competing against his former Ryder Cup teammates and rivals.
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He said, “It’s special, like just reminiscing with the guys today on the course. We’ve played Ryder Cups together. We’ve done an awful lot of rounds together through the years. I haven’t seen the guys for a number of years, and they’ve had a great kind of 50-plus kind of stretch.
“Miguel [Angel Jimenez] is 62 and played incredible out here. He’s won so many tournaments. Darren [Clarke] 57 and coming off a win a couple of weeks ago.
“It’s great to play with the guys. It’s great to reminisce. It’s funny, I don’t feel 50, but I am 50. So it’s one of those. It’s been a great couple of days, and hopefully I can have a run this weekend.”
Poulter has been competing on LIV Golf since 2022, so playing a senior major is a totally different prospect from the one he’s become accustomed to. He spoke about the level of play on the senior tour:
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“Listen, these guys — I for one second didn’t think I was coming here to an easy competition. There’s a reason why these guys have done what they’ve done in the game, and they play week in and week out out here, and that’s because they were the very best players in the world for a long time. You don’t lose that when you turn 50.
“These guys have transitioned, and they’re enjoying obviously playing Champions Tour golf and obviously playing majors like these and having an enjoyable time, and so you should once you turn 50.”
Ian Poulter is seeing what he gave up on by joining LIV Golf
As Poulter enjoys reminiscing about the good old days with his former competitors, he’s getting a window into the post-career life he could have had if he had never joined LIV Golf.
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Poulter was a European Ryder Cup hero and completely synonymous with the event. He was dead set to be a future captain and an integral part of the team throughout the 2020s.
He and a number of other Ryder Cup legends, like Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood, gave all of that up by joining LIV Golf and effectively handed the keys to Luke Donald, who led the team to one of their most successful-ever periods.
Poulter should have spent his 50s enjoying the company of his former colleagues and helping Europe in their Ryder Cup endeavors. Instead, he’s on the outside looking in, and perhaps wondering what could have been.
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