Ian Poulter objected to the notion that he was getting booed at the British Open for defecting to the LIV Golf Series, carrying out a lengthy exchange with a reporter over the subject following his round at St. Andrews on Saturday.
“Are we still talking about it?” Poulter asked when a question about the crowd support, or lack thereof, was put to him.
“So it’s amazing how we still talk about one person that’s 100 yards down the first [hole], where there’s conveniently a microphone positioned way down halfway down the stand and some young guy says ‘boo,’ and it comes over on the TV,” Poulter said. “And you all assume I’m being booed on the course.
“You just walked, [reporter] Phil Casey walked 17 holes on day one. He’s not here, but he was standing here the other day. And the 17 holes he walked, there was not one comment. There was not one boo. If you guys continue to write that there are people and there’s negative comments and there’s boos, then unfortunately that’s not a true reflection of exactly what happened.”
The group of LIV defectors has been largely ignored by NBC’s coverage of the British Open as the golf world continues to react to the controversial Saudi-backed tour. Of the defectors, Dustin Johnson is up among the contenders, sitting at 10-under, six shots off the lead as the third round wrapped up on Saturday.
Rory McIlroy, an ardent defender of the PGA Tour, currently leads.
Poulter finished his exchange by asking the reporter to note that he had, in fact, been cheered on the Old Course on Saturday.
“Andy, would actually write the truth, that we’re getting quite a lot of support out there on the golf course because it would just be nice,” Poulter said. “It would be a fair reflection of actually what’s happening, rather than this continual press of let’s lead down the path of players being booed who have joined the LIV tour. Let’s just say that, right? Fair, respectful, honest journalism would be great because it would be the truth.”