The 150th Open: Ian Poulter plays down first-tee booing after impressive opening day at St Andrews
Ian Poulter began with a three-under 69 on the opening day, having been booed by a very small minority of the crowd at the first tee; Watch day two of The 150th Open live on Sky Sports from 6.30am on Friday morning.
By Ali Stafford at St Andrews
Last Updated: 14/07/22 5:37pm
Ian Poulter insisted he was unaffected by booing from the St Andrews crowd as he bounced back from a nightmare start to impress during the opening round of The Open.
Poulter almost missed one of the widest fairways in golf as he pulled his opening tee shot dangerously close to the out-of-bounds line, shortly after receiving a frosty reception from a small number of spectators as he was introduced at the first tee.
The Ryder Cup star, one of 24 players in the field from the breakaway LIV Golf Invitational Series, scrambled an impressive par at the first and drained a 160-foot eagle at the par-four ninth on his way to a three-under 69 on St Andrews' iconic Old Course.
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"Didn't hear one," Poulter insisted post-round when asked about booing in the crowd. "I actually thought I had a great reception on the first tee, to be honest. All I heard was clapping. I have heard not one heckle. In three weeks, I've heard nothing.
"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's strong first round follows a disappointing early exit from last week's Genesis Scottish Open, where he had initially been banned from competing due to his involvement in the Saudi-backed breakaway circuit.
"I was deeply disappointed with how I handled everything myself last week from a perspective of losing focus out on the golf course more than anything else," Poulter added about last week's display. "I don't play golf very well distracted, so having levels of distraction there is never easy.
"Separating myself away from that this week has obviously been a good thing and not let in certain comments or just general noise affect you I come in as focused as possible.
"I would love to be able to do something special on Sunday as we all, everybody competing in this 150th Open dream of holding that Claret Jug. Goes without saying that I'd love to be able to do that. Getting off to a nice start is good, but it's links golf - there's a lot of golf to play."
Mickelson to reporter: "Let it go, dude!"
2013 champion Phil Mickelson is among the other LIV golfers in the field for the final men's major of the year, having missed both the R&A's Celebration of Champions on Monday and the traditional Champions' Dinner the following evening.
"The R&A contacted me a couple weeks before and said, 'look, we don't think it's a great idea you go, but if you want to, you can'," Mickelson explained. "I just didn't want to make a big deal about it, so I said fine. We both kind of agreed that it would be best if I didn't.
"I think that I couldn't be more excited and ecstatic with where I'm at. I love the [LIV Golf] events. I get to have golf in my life and competitive golf in my life on a scale that is fun, exciting, different, and lets me play and compete but still do the things outside that I want to do."
When asked about what it meant to miss such a historic occasion, where the likes of Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tiger Woods were all in attendance, Mickelson said: "Let it go, dude. Let it go. That's three times you've asked the same question. I don't know what to tell you. I couldn't be happier."
Mickelson also gave his verdict on the current fragility within world golf and the criticism Tiger Woods had about players joining the breakaway tour, where he added: I think it's all going to play out and end up where it should be in time.
"I certainly respect his [Woods'] opinion. I have a lot of respect for him. I respect his opinion. I think everybody's going to have strong emotions and opinions about it, and I certainly respect his."
Westwood: 'Unfair' to stop LIV players in majors
Those without major exemptions and falling outside the world's top 50 are in danger of failing to qualify for future majors, although former world No 1 Lee Westwood believes it would be unfair to stop LIV players from being able to compete.
"I think anybody who signed to the LIV events, there's was an element of risk for them not playing in majors and things like that," Westwood told Sky Sports. "I don't see why it should be like that. The four majors, for me, stand alone. They are four independent bodies and not on other tours.
"The LIV tour is just another tour, the same as the South African tour (Sunshine Tour) is, the Asian Tour is and the Australasian Tour (PGA Tour of Australasia) is. To single out a tour is a bit unfair really."
Watch day two of The 150th Open live on Sky Sports from 6.30am on Friday morning, followed by The Open Verdict at 8.30pm following the close of play.
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