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Ian Poulter insisted he was not affected by booing on the first tee at the Open – claiming he “didn’t hear” the heckling.

The 46-year-old has been a controversial figure in golf of late having been one of the first big names to make the switch to the breakaway LIV Series.

Boos were audible as he was introduced to the galleries ahead of his opening round on Thursday.

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However, despite subsequently almost missing the widest fairway in golf, Poulter said he had not been aware of any issues.

“Didn’t hear one,” he said when asked how the incident had affected him.

“I actually thought I had a great reception on the first tee, to be honest. All I heard was clapping.”

Poulter also refused to be drawn on criticism of LIV Golf from either Tiger Woods, who accused players of “turning their backs” on the game, or R&A chief Martin Slumbers.

Instead, he plans to enjoy what he admitted could be his last major championship visit to the Home of Golf.

“I purposely haven’t looked at all [at the comments]. So I don’t want to know.

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“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.

“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. It goes without saying that I’d love to be able to do that.”