Ian Poulter has claimed 'nothing has changed' in regard to his relationship with Rory McIlroy, as professional golf continues to heal over amid the proposed merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.
The two circuits had found themselves involved in a bitter feud over the past year, after the sport fell into a state of civil war. On both sides of the battle was of course the players, after a whole host of big names made the decision to leave the PGA Tour to join the breakaway circuit.
One of those was Poulter, who has pledged his support behind the LIV Golf setup and former world No. 1 CEO Greg Norman since his switch last summer.
On the opposite side, one man who prevailed as arguably the Saudi-backed league's biggest critic was McIlroy, who proved to play a huge role in support of the PGA Tour and their efforts to diffuse the progress of their LIV Golf rivals.
With both sharing differing opinions, it appeared as if an iconic relationship - which blossomed in the European Ryder Cup setup - had been broken. McIlroy was less than impressed with his former teammates in Poulter, Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia joining the start-up league, after claiming he felt 'betrayed' last October.
Nearly one year on though the sport appears to be healing amid the agreement between the PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF). Following this Poulter was quizzed on his relationship with McIlroy ahead of this week's LIV London event.
In response, Poulter claimed there was - and never had been - any issue between him and the Northern Irishman. Nothing has changed," the Englishman said. "There's obviously been a lot out there in the media. But I spoke to Rory several months ago, and my relationship with him is the same as it's always been.
"I've got massive respect for him for what he's been able to achieve." Claiming his LIV Golf move was a 'business decision', Poulter added: "A business decision is a business decision at the end of the day, and that should never get in a way of a personal relationship, and that would be disappointing and a shame if it ever did."
As Lee [Westwood] said, my relationships haven't changed with any of the players. Still class them all as friends. We've spent alot of time in the last quarter of a century building relationships, and just because you have a slight difference of opinion shouldn't change any of that."
