Golf star Ian Poulter was greeted with boos when he took to the tee at The Open on day one. His hostile reception comes in the wake of the Brit’s ties to the controversial LIV Golf series, and he is one of one of 24 players in the field who have signed up to the controversial Saudi-backed breakaway tournaments.
The reception seemed to have a negative impact on the 46-year-old who almost inexplicably missed the widest fairway in golf with his mid-iron heading well left across the 18th fairway. His shot was so wayward it finished just inches from the out of bounds line which borders The Links road on the fringe of the course.
But Poulter’s quality shone through as he recovered by making par at the 355-yard first. In fact, he has now gained some momentum as he pulled off a remarkable shot of 160 feet at hole nine to go three under par and is now tied for fourth place. The LIV stars are allowed to compete at St. Andrews this week, provided they qualified for the competition.
Those who snubbed the PGA for a chance to participate in the LIV Golf Invitational Series were permitted to compete in the U.S. Open in June. That's despite numerous players being suspended by the PGA and DP World Tours. On the eve of the tournament, R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers insisted banning LIV Golf rebels from next year’s Open is “not on the agenda”, but has not ruled out changing the championship’s entry criteria.
"Looking ahead to The Open next year, we have been asked quite frequently about banning players. Let me be very clear, that's not on our agenda," Slumbers said in a pre-tournament press conference. "But what is on our agenda is that we will review our exemptions and qualification criteria for the Open. Whilst we do that every year, we absolutely reserve the right to make changes as our Open Championships committee deems appropriate. Players have to earn their place in the Open and that is fundamental to its ethos and unique appeal.
"I never said the best golfers would not be able to play. We will hold totally true to being open to anybody, but we will look at whether it is an exemption or through qualification." Slumbers further criticised LIV as “driven by money” especially with a lack of ranking points on offer.
But Greg Norman’s circuit want to change that as they submitted an application to be recognised by the Official World Golf Ranking. It is set to be a long and arduous process and in the meantime, an exemption has been given to those inside the world’s top 50.
"Professional golfers are entitled to choose where they want to play and accept the prize money that is offered to them," Slumbers added. "I have absolutely no issue with that at all. But there is no such thing as a free lunch. I believe the model we have seen is not in the best interest of the sport as a whole and is entirely driven by money, which we believe undermines the merit-based culture and the pursuit of open competition which makes golf so special.
"In my opinion the continued commentary that this is about growing the game is just not credible and, if anything, is damaging the perception of our sport which we are working so hard to improve.”
