LIV Golf insurgent Ian Poulter was booed on the primary tee because the a hundred and fiftieth Open Championship started at St Andrews.
The 46-year-old is certainly one of 24 gamers within the area who've signed as much as the controversial Saudi-backed breakaway collection and was the primary of these to exit within the morning.
Poulter’s response was virtually to overlook the widest fairway in golf along with his mid-iron heading properly left throughout the 18th fairway.
His ball completed simply a few yards in need of the out of bounds line which borders The Hyperlinks street on the perimeter of the course.
Poulter produced restoration, nonetheless, and made par on the 355-yard first.
On the eve of the event R&A chief govt Martin Slumbers insisted banning LIV Golf rebels from subsequent 12 months’s Open is “not on the agenda”, however has not dominated out altering the championship’s entry standards.
In a surprisingly strongly-worded assertion earlier than taking questions in his conventional pre-tournament press convention, Slumbers stated the Saudi-funded breakaway was ‘fully pushed by cash’ and never within the ‘greatest long-term pursuits of the sport’.
The PGA Tour has suspended members who've competed within the breakaway with out permission, whereas the DP World Tour fined gamers £100,000 and banned them from final week’s Genesis Scottish Open, however noticed that briefly stayed on attraction.
The R&A introduced final month LIV gamers who have been exempt for the Open can be allowed to compete at St Andrews, following the stance taken by the USGA in relation to the US Open.
However USGA chief govt Mike Whan did admit he might foresee it changing into more durable for LIV gamers to qualify sooner or later, a view echoed by Slumbers.
Rory McIlroy, the 2014 champion and one of many favourites this week, in the meantime, was due off at 9.58am with defending champion Collin Morikawa and final week’s Scottish Open winner Xander Schauffele. was anticipating St Andrews to play powerful and get harder.
‘I feel with the situation of the golf course, with somewhat little bit of breeze, you'll be able to bomb it round right here and hit driver and get it near the greens, however that doesn’t essentially imply you’re going to make birdies from these positions,’ was the Northern Irishman’s evaluation.
‘I simply assume with the best way the golf course is enjoying and the way agency and quick it's, it’s simply going to get tremendous difficult by the tip of the week.’
Tiger Woods, a two-time Open winner at St Andrews, was a day starter alongside newly-crowned US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick, and Max Homa.
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