Ian Poulter claimed "I didn't hear anyone boo" on the first tee despite the LIV rebel getting a rough reception at the 150th Open. But the Ryder Cup star admitted he has stopped going on social media because of the strong reaction to the Saudi-backed breakaway tour.
The Open got off to an unusual start with 10-15 fans booing Poulter in only the fourth group of the day at 7.08am. The world No.93 nearly hooked his opening iron shot out of bounds but recovered to shoot a three-under 69 - including an incredible 150-foot eagle putt on the ninth hole.
Asked about the booing, the 46-year-old said: “Didn't hear one. I actually thought I had a great reception on the 1st tee, to be honest. All I heard was clapping.
"I have heard not one heckle. In three weeks, I've heard nothing. You lot can write whatever you like about being heckled and booing. I didn't hear anyone boo. We always have one out of several thousand people that say something silly most days”. And Poulter, who played the first two LIV events in Hertfordshire and Oregon, also said joining the breakaway league had not affected his relationship with fellow players.
"I've heard great comments, great talks with everyone," he said. "We might have a difference of opinion, but they're my friends. You play golf with these guys for 20-plus years or 10, 15 years, you've been part of many teams with them. Even if they have a difference of opinion, that's that. We all have opinions, right? We're still friends, whatever the landscape is and wherever you're playing golf."
But Poulter, who has 2.2m followers on Twitter, admitted he has stayed off social media following a vicious backlash after refusing to say in a press conference whether he would play in an event in Vladimir Putin ’s Russia if the money were right. “Social media, you will always get interesting comments from those brave people behind the screens, right?” he said.
“Because they do. Whatever you do, if you do something nice, there will always be a poor comment from somebody that didn't like what you did, even if it was a charity something, right? It's just inevitable. It's just the nature of the beast with social media. That's why the level of bullying that happens on social media is right there in front of everyone.”
And he claimed he had not seen R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers say on Wednesday that the Open would try to make it more difficult for LIV players to qualify in future - or Tiger Woods claiming players had turned their backs on the sport. “Purposely haven't looked at all,” he said. “So I don't want to know. You can tell me, I'm not going to listen. I'm here to play golf. This could probably be my last Open Championship at St Andrews. So I'm trying to enjoy it despite the questioning.
"I'm staying out of the way. I'm not reading social media. I just want to play golf, right? I can only do my job. If I listen to a lot of nonsense, then I'm going to get distracted. That's never going to be good for me. I'll leave it to the clever people to figure stuff out, and I'll just play golf." Poulter did hear a fan shout out: "Light The Candle" after his drive at the 17th. "I said there's always one American in the crowd," he laughed.
