Ian

Poulter

“Sometimes you have to sit back and pinch yourself about the journey that’s been,” Ian Poulter told the LIV Golf Fairway To Heaven podcast early in 2024.

Born in Hertfordshire, England, in 1976, Poulter’s love affair with the game of golf began when he was four. That was when his father Terry, a single-handicap player, gave him a cut-down club to play with.

He left school at 15 and worked as an assistant pro in the golf shop at Chesfield Downs Golf Club, near his home. He moved on to a course in Leighton Buzzard in a similar capacity before turning professional in 1996.

“It’s been a long journey and a lot of hard work,” he says, “but the rewards have been beyond what I could ever have imagined. It’s all been worth it – the journey has been a pretty cool one.”

Ian Poulter qualified for his European Tour card in 2000 after a strong year on the Challenge Tour. His maiden win at the top level came in his first year, at the Italian Open.

He was named the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year, and he continued to win regularly over the next few seasons, with the highlight his Volvo Masters victory in 2004.

Poulter played on both sides of the Atlantic after that, and had his closest brush with Major glory in 2008. He led in the clubhouse late on the final day at The Open Championship before Padraig Harrington overtook him to retain the Claret Jug.

That was the closest Poulter would ever come to a triumph in one of the four Majors. He finished in a tie for third at the PGA Championship in 2012, and in joint-sixth at the Masters three years after that.

Ian Poulter’s first PGA Tour victory arrived in early 2010, when he won the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. That carried him to No.5 in the world, his highest ever ranking.

He followed that in 2011 by winning the European Tour’s flagship matchplay event, the Volvo World Match Play Championship, and added a second WGC title the following year at the WGC-HSBC Champions in China.

He would win one more title in the USA, at the 2018 Houston Open, when he beat Beau Hossler in a playoff.

The statistics are impressive, but it is the memories that linger when you think of Ian Poulter at the Ryder Cup.

He finished on the winning side five times and has an overall record of 15-8-2 in the biennial match – with an unbeaten 6-0-1 in singles across his seven appearances.

“If you cut me in half, it bleeds Ryder Cup,” Poulter once said. He was even more effusive after the match in 2010, which the Europeans won at Celtic Manor in Wales.

Poulter won his singles match against Matt Kuchar and enthused: “I love it. I love it from the first tee. I love it from the songs. And I love it with all 11 team-mates.

“It truly is the best tournament in the world, and will always be. I love it. I said I was going to win today, and I won a point. But more importantly, the team, as a team, managed to win the trophy back.”

Right there is the essence of Ian Poulter, the unbridled passion for competition and the selfless joy of playing a part in team glory.

His finest hour came two years later when, with Europe trailing on the second day, he reeled off five successive birdies to win a vital fourballs point that set up the Miracle of Medinah the following afternoon.

Before his most recent appearance, in 2021, he said: “I played football [soccer] as a kid. I loved being part of a team all the way back then. That didn’t happen for me, so I turned to golf.

“Right from 2004, to put that shirt over my head really kind of changed my life from a golfer’s perspective. I’ve made more friends, closer friends at the Ryder Cup than I have in all of the years that I’ve ever been playing an individual game of golf.” 

Majesticks GC was the first team unveiled when the LIV Golf series launched in London in 2022. Ian Poulter was one of three captains – along with Lee Westwood and Henrik Stenson – and he clearly supports the concept behind LIV Golf.

He believes in the model and the concept and believes they will be good for the sport in the long term.

As one of the first recruits to the series, he was a lightning rod for much of the criticism from traditional golf fans, which he described as “vile”.

He admitted: “I was getting ridiculous abuse and, in that sense, they were tough times. I don’t just think of my kids, but their kids and their kids and that is what I work for. People might have their objections. I’m not sure I get it, but fair enough. Yet I don’t understand why they take it so far.”

Poulter has been a stalwart of the series since signing his LIV Golf contract. He recorded an excellent fifth place in the final event of the 2024 calendar, in Chicago, which suggested his days as a winner were not over.

He offers an interesting insight into the mindset required to thrive in LIV Golf. Unlike traditional tournaments, with four rounds and a halfway cut, the onus is on you to be competitive from the start in a series with fewer events.

“You need to be way more aggressive from the first tee,” he said, adding: “You’ve got to be ready to play golf every time.”

Ian Poulter met his wife Katie in 1995, when she was working as a nurse. The couple married in 2007 and have four children: Aimee-Leigh, Luke, Lily-Mai, and Joshua.

The Poulters have a home in a gated community in Lake Nona, Florida, and a base near Milton Keynes in England.

Luke, who was famously pictured as a baby with the Ryder Cup after the European victory in 2004, played college golf for the Florida Gators at the University of Florida.

He is now making his way as a professional player and there are hopes that he might one day wear a Majesticks logo alongside his dad.

Aimee-Leigh, meanwhile, studied at Clemson University in South Carolina and graduated with a major in Art and a minor in Business Administration.

Her father has run several businesses and is an adept user of social media, with more than two million followers on Twitter and half a million on Instagram.

However, Poulter ruefully tells the story of Katie spending a $100 bill that carried the autograph of all-time golf legend Arnold Palmer.

Before he wore his Majesticks uniform, Ian Poulter was legendary for his outrageous eye-catching outfits on the golf course.

Whether it was garish checks, Union Flag designs or golf pants decorated with the Claret Jug at The Open Championship, Poulter could be relied upon to raise a smile and start a conversation with his eccentric apparel.

His mother Theresa was manager of a clothes shop, and Ian fulfilled a long-standing ambition in 2007 when he launched his own company, IJP Design, in 2007. Even though the company closed 10 years later, Poulter still occasionally wears its products when he plays.

Ian Poulter has earned plenty of money in his years as a top professional golfer, and he has spent a significant chunk of it on an extraordinary collection of rare high-end cars.

His car collection, which has an estimated value of $24million, has included several Ferraris, a Lamborghini, models from Bentley, Porsche and Mercedes, and a rare McLaren Senna, of which only 500 were made.

“I’m a very lucky man to be able to drive some of the world’s best cars” says Poulter. 

Like many boys from north London and beyond, the young Ian Poulter became a supporter of Arsenal early on in his life and his passion has never dimmed.

Poulter follows the fortunes of his favorite soccer team avidly, and many fellow Arsenal fans support him on the course as a result.

He was the victim of a prank on his 40th birthday in January 2016. Darren Clarke, leading the EurAsia Cup team in Kuala Lumpur, presented Poulter with a soccer shirt – of Tottenham, Arsenal’s most bitter rivals. Poulter did not see the funny side initially and threw the shirt across the room in disgust.

For much of his professional career, Ian Poulter was a brand ambassador for Titleist. He has also had deals with Cobra and TaylorMade.

Many of the clubs in Poulter’s bag are from the Titleist range, while his most regular driver is the Ping G430 LST, he uses Titleist TSR2+ and TSR3 fairway woods.

His irons are the Titleist T200s and T100s, while he uses the same brand’s Vokey Design wedges and an Odyssey 1100 DFX Putter. Like so many pro golfers, Poulter favors the Titleist Pro V1x ball.

Through nearly three decades as a professional golfer, Ian Poulter has banked $28.2million in prize money. By the end of 2024, he had also earned $8.7million from playing on the LIV Golf circuit for three seasons.

As well as his partnerships with manufacturers such as Titleist, he has also had sponsorships with several leading brands. Among his most recent sponsors are cryptocurrency exchange OKX, private air travel firm Speed Bird, and Woburn Golf Club in England, where he is one of the touring professionals.

Along with his idiosyncratic clothing, Poulter has been spotted wearing glamorous watches over the years from elite makers such as Rolex and Audemars Piguet.

“I just hope I never grow up,” said Ian Poulter on Fairway To Heaven, an admirable sentiment for a man not far short of his 50th birthday.

There is a strong sense that Poulter fully appreciates the wonderful lifestyle earned by his hard work in becoming, and remaining, a top pro golfer – and in turn, he wants to impart traditional values to his children. He emphasizes the importance of respect and politeness.

As for his own future, Poulter clearly aspires to play his part in the long-term success of LIV Golf – and to compete for more victories.

The Postman may yet deliver again.