So much for Ian Poulter being thrown into the golf wilderness for joining the Saudi rebel circuit. Not only will the Ryder Cup hero win it here in the Scottish Open after winning an 11 hour reprieve on his banbut he will take the opportunity to play at multiple events of the DP World Tour in the summer.
It says so much about the size of the waves the LIV Golf Series has created in this once-quiet sport that even with 14 of the top 15 in the world taking part, all eyes will be on the golfer who comes 100th out of 100. place is in the first round on Thursday.
Poulter, 46, refused to accept the suspension from his home Tour for this $8 million tournament and took the case to court on Monday. In an unprecedented ruling, circuit judge Phillip Sycamore granted Poulter a stay of suspension with the important ruling yet to come.
Three other rebels – South Africans Branden Grace and Justin Harding and Spaniard Adrian Otaegui – have also recovered, a scenario Keith Pelley called “disappointing”.
However, with the final verdict expected to last at least three months, the DP World Tour chief executive has accepted that during this intervening period he should just let the LIV players continue to compete.
This will be helpful for Poulter, as well as for the likes of Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia, as they have an unlimited ban on the PGA Tour and otherwise wouldn’t be able to play anywhere in August as the LIV Golf Series has a five-week break between the third and fourth events.
“I plan to play the Czech Open and after The Open [next week] can add event on british swing [there are another four UK tournaments in a row after St Andrews]’ said Poulter here. “I haven’t really sat down to work it out yet. In September I will also play the BMW PGA Championship in Wentworth.”
‘We’ll agree to disagree, but we’ll remain friends’
Obviously this won’t impress everyone, including Rory McIlroy, Poulter’s friend and Ryder Cup partner, who on Tuesday believed the LIV golfers were not “to have and eat their cake”† Still, Poulter isn’t worried about the reception he might face in the dressing room.
“It’s just business, right?” he said. “Business and personal are two completely different things. There will be some people who will be extremely strong at this and some of them will be my friends. We will agree to disagree, but we will remain friends.”
Nor is he concerned about the reaction of the galleries, here or in St Andrews. “I played in Adare . on Monday and Tuesday [in the JP McManus Pro Am] and there were 40,000 fans there,” he said. “They were incredible. No abuse at all. Zero. Yes, social media has been bad because that’s their forum to hide. But in my face? Nothing.”
Wentworth HQ will pray that the Rebel quartet does not compete in this first jointly sanctioned event with the PGA Tour. And although Grace was victorious at last week’s LIV 54 holes in Oregon – raising more than £3 million – his task is ominous against the highest quality ever amassed in the history of the European circuit.