{"id":43768,"date":"2026-07-29T03:05:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T03:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/43768\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T03:05:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T03:05:15","slug":"ian-poulter-says-how-his-former-ryder-cup-teammates-have-treated-him-at-the-us-senior-open-so-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/43768\/","title":{"rendered":"Ian Poulter says how his former Ryder Cup teammates have treated him at the US Senior Open so far"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/ Follow us on Google Discover <\/a> <\/p>\n

For the first time in three years, Ian Poulter is playing in a professional event alongside non-LIV golfers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 50-year-old Englishman is competing in the US Senior Open, his first senior major championship after becoming eligible this year. Poulter is playing against his former competitors and Ryder Cup teammates, such as Padraig Harrington and Colin Montgomerie. <\/p>\n

Poulter has a contentious relationship with the DP World Tour and the Ryder Cup after his move to LIV Golf. He\u2019s effectively made himself ineligible for the captaincy, which he once seemed destined for, and while he\u2019s finally paid his DP World Tour fines for playing on LIV, it wasn\u2019t without public disgruntlement. <\/p>\n

But now he\u2019s competing alongside his former teammates, and Poulter revealed how they\u2019ve treated him during the tournament. <\/p>\n

\"IanPhoto by Dylan Buell\/Getty ImagesIan Poulter said playing with former Ryder Cup teammates has been \u2018special\u2019 <\/p>\n

Poulter, who is in the top 10 of the Senior US Open at one under par, described the feeling of being back competing against his former Ryder Cup teammates and rivals. <\/p>\n

He said, \u201cIt\u2019s special, like just reminiscing with the guys today on the course. We\u2019ve played Ryder Cups together. We\u2019ve done an awful lot of rounds together through the years. I haven\u2019t seen the guys for a number of years, and they\u2019ve had a great kind of 50-plus kind of stretch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMiguel [Angel Jimenez] is 62 and played incredible out here. He\u2019s won so many tournaments. Darren [Clarke] 57 and coming off a win a couple of weeks ago.<\/p>\n

Do you want LIV Golf to fold? <\/p>\n

Does LIV make professional golf in general better or worse?<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great to play with the guys. It\u2019s great to reminisce. It\u2019s funny, I don\u2019t feel 50, but I am 50. So it\u2019s one of those. It\u2019s been a great couple of days, and hopefully I can have a run this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poulter has been competing on LIV Golf since 2022, so playing a senior major is a totally different prospect from the one he\u2019s become accustomed to. He spoke about the level of play on the senior tour:<\/p>\n

\u201cListen, these guys \u2014 I for one second didn\u2019t think I was coming here to an easy competition. There\u2019s a reason why these guys have done what they\u2019ve done in the game, and they play week in and week out out here, and that\u2019s because they were the very best players in the world for a long time. You don\u2019t lose that when you turn 50.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese guys have transitioned, and they\u2019re enjoying obviously playing Champions Tour golf and obviously playing majors like these and having an enjoyable time, and so you should once you turn 50.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ian Poulter is seeing what he gave up on by joining LIV Golf<\/p>\n

As Poulter enjoys reminiscing about the good old days with his former competitors, he\u2019s getting a window into the post-career life he could have had if he had never joined LIV Golf.<\/p>\n

Poulter was a European Ryder Cup hero and completely synonymous with the event. He was dead set to be a future captain and an integral part of the team throughout the 2020s.<\/p>\n

He and a number of other Ryder Cup legends, like Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood, gave all of that up by joining LIV Golf and effectively handed the keys to Luke Donald, who led the team to one of their most successful-ever periods. <\/p>\n

Poulter should have spent his 50s enjoying the company of his former colleagues and helping Europe in their Ryder Cup endeavors. Instead, he\u2019s on the outside looking in, and perhaps wondering what could have been. <\/p>\n

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