‘It’s not right!’ – Ian Poulter hits out at DP World Tour

Ian Poulter will not follow Sergio Garcia’s lead by returning to the DP World Tour and called the sanctions levied towards him “unjustifiable”.

Garcia has revived his hopes of playing in an 11th Ryder Cup by settling the outstanding fines he incurred for playing in LIV Golf events without permission.

The Spaniard, alongside Poulter and fellow European stalwart Lee Westwood, had initially resigned their memberships in May 2023 after the tour’s sanctions for playing in conflicting events on LIV were ratified by a sports arbitration panel.

And while Garcia’s U-turn comes with prospect of a Ryder Cup place in mind, Poulter has no such interest in making a similar move.

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Speaking in a wide-ranging interview with Matt Vincenzi, suggested that his decision to stay away from his old domain remains a matter of principle.

As it stands, the DP World Tour fines members £100,000 every time they compete in a LIV event without being granted a release.

Poulter confirmed that LIV have covered Garcia’s fines totalling over £1million, but has no plans to join him on a circuit on which he has 12 professional wins.

“I personally wouldn’t pay because I felt it was unjust at the time to be fined £100,000 a week,” Poulter said.

“It makes no comprehension sense to me at all. My stance has never changed. I’ve played golf all over the world. I was never playing fines by Europe for when I played outside of Europe on other tours around the world.

“My stance still today is the exact same stance I had three years.  I haven’t backtracked. I haven’t changed my opinion. I still stand with the first words. It’s not right. It’s very unjustifiable.

“If I personally wouldn’t pay the fines myself, why would I put my business partner in that position to pay $2.4million towards a Ryder Cup that I’m actually not going to play in?”

Poulter was also asked in his interview with Vincenzi about his aspirations of leading Europe one day.

“As it stands today, I’m currently not a member of the European Tour,” he stressed. “I am not eligible to become Ryder Cup captain or vice-captain.

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“Until that position changes you can only really play the hypothetical game. It is difficult to put into words how things have unfolded in the last eight months towards a group of individuals that are putting themselves in position to be eligible for playing or future captaincy.

“I am just not in that position to take up membership again.”

Poulter’s comments come after Rory McIlroy suggested it would be difficult to envisage the Englishman or other LIV players becoming captain due to their commitments on the breakaway league.

“I’m not saying that Poulter doesn’t have the credentials to be a Ryder Cup captain, but I just think with the current state of where everything is, you need someone that’s around and showing their face as much as they can,” McIlroy said back in September.

“Right now, that honestly just can’t be them because they’re elsewhere.”

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.