Ian Poulter has once again hit out at the criticism of LIV Golf, after a number of the Saudi-funded circuit's players impressed at the Masters earlier this month.
A total of 18 LIV stars returned to the PGA Tour for the opening major championship of the season, including six former champions. It remained unknown as to how the returning rebels would be received with the rivalry between the Tour and LIV continuing to bubble away.
In the end it turned out that Augusta National proved to be the perfect location for a brief ceasefire in golf's civil war, with the rival players mixing throughout the week.
Heading into the tournament there were question marks as to how the LIV stars would fare, most notably due to the lack of golf they had played in the lead-up to the tournament, as well as the more relaxed, 54-hole, no-cut events they had been competing in on the breakaway circuit.
On the whole though the defectors more than showed their capabilities with LIV star Brooks Koepka holding the tournament lead for the opening three rounds, before being pipped by eventual champion Jon Rahm. Koepka was joined by fellow rebel Phil Mickelson in second, as 'Lefty' rolled back the years to end his tournament with an impressive seven-under-par 65 in round four.
And the LIV crusade was not done there, as 2018 champion Patrick Reed also enjoyed a succesful final round to move him into a tie for fourth, as three of the returning stars broke the top four at Augusta. Two weeks on LIV is back on the road, as it heads to Australia for the very first time this week as they tee it up in Adelaide.
One man who is returning to action is English star Poulter, and after the impressive showing of his LIV colleagues in Georgia earlier this month, has hit back at the breakaway circuit's doubters. "There’s been a lot of criticism over the last 10 months of a lot of things which I think is a shame," he said per The Straits Times.
What are your thoughts on LIV Golf? Let us know in the comments section below.
"When you look at how well Phil, Brooks and Patrick played around Augusta National, it contradicts a lot of what has been put out there that guys are not fit, they’re not strong enough to play 72 holes or 54 holes." Poulter himself missed out on just his second Masters in 15 years after failing to qualify.
Whilst the European Ryder Cup star has enjoyed his time so far with LIV, it has seen his world ranking take a hit costing himself a place in the Augusta field. The Saudi-funded series are yet to acquire recognition from the Official World Golf Rankings, meaning their events have been going ahead without ranking points on offer to the competing players.
