LIV golf rebel Ian Poulter reacts to being booed at The Open

Ian Poulter was booed on the primary tee at St Andrews as he started his spherical at The Open (Image: Getty)

Ian Poulter insisted he didn't hear the boos which greeted him on the primary tee of the one hundred and fiftieth Open.

The Ryder Cup veteran claimed the frosty reception he obtained had no affect on his opening shot being pulled throughout the widest fairway in golf and stopping just some ft away from going out of bounds.

Poulter was the primary of the 24 gamers who've signed as much as the controversial Saudi-backed LIV Golf collection to tee off on Thursday and a handful of spectators may very well be heard booing.

Poulter went on to make par on the primary and holed an unbelievable eagle putt from round 150 ft throughout the ninth inexperienced on his strategy to a three-under-par 69.

‘Didn’t hear one,’ Poulter mentioned when requested in regards to the boos. ‘I truly thought I had an ideal reception on the primary tee, to be sincere.

‘All I heard was clapping.

‘I assumed there was a few thousand (spectators) on the tee. In order that they clearly drowned out the one.’

Ian Poulter started his Open marketing campaign by wildly hooking his tee shot on the first gap (Image: Getty)

The motion at St Andrews had acquired below method lower than 24 hours after R&A chief govt Martin Slumbers had mentioned banning LIV Golf rebels from subsequent 12 months’s Open was ‘not on the agenda’, however that entry standards may very well be modified.

In a surprisingly strongly-worded assertion earlier than taking questions in his conventional pre-Open press convention, Slumbers mentioned the Saudi-funded breakaway was ‘completely pushed by cash’ and never within the ‘finest long-term pursuits of the sport’.

‘Purposely haven’t checked out all,’ Poulter mentioned when requested for his response. ‘So I don’t need to know. You may inform me, I’m not going to pay attention. I’m right here to play golf.

‘This might most likely be my final Open Championship at St Andrews so I’m attempting to get pleasure from it regardless of the questioning.

‘I’m staying out of the best way. I’m not studying social media. I simply need to play golf, proper? I can solely do my job.

‘If I take heed to a whole lot of nonsense, then I’m going to get distracted. I don’t play golf very effectively distracted, so separating myself away from that this week has clearly been a very good factor.’

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