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GolfBrief Staff
Compiled by the GolfBrief staff, and wire reports may have contributed to this story.
Poulter incurs putter woes
- By GolfBrief Staff
- Published 03/22/2008
- Primary Cut
- Unrated
Ian Poulter finished his WGC-CA Championship third round on Saturday before the rains came, but not without problems.
Poulter, who had not really made a putt of any significant length the whole week, was not happy when his 11-footer for par at the 14th hole missed. En route from the 14th green to the 15th tee, Poulter’s Odyssey putter somehow connected with the concrete cart path.
After the collision, the weight in the putter became dislodged and, according to tournament officials, Rule 4:3/9, the putter became non-conforming. Thus Poulter was forced to use another club on the greens.
Poulter’s explanation: “If you were walking along with your putter in your hand, and you drop it on the path, it makes a little … .”
Poulter was then asked if he dropped it.
“No, no, look, look, I can get frustrated on the golf course, and trust me, I can break a golf club,” he said. “And I have done many. So that one was not in pure and utter anger. I was frustrated. Would I have dropped it on the path had I holed the 10- or 8-footer? Probably not. Put it this way, I was very, very, very surprised to see the weight move on the back. That’s was more of a shock. It was all, ‘Wow, that just happened.’ That was very surprising. But they’re only glued together and pinned together, so I suppose they’re not supposed to be coming to contact with the path, are they?”
Poulter finished his round using his wedge because it had the straightest leading edge, and then he made his longest putt of the week from 22 feet to save par on the 18th hole.
“It’s quite funny when you stand there and you’ve got a 18-footer and you haven’t really holed an 18-footer all week with your putter and you get to role one straight in the middle,” Poulter said. “It’s bizarre.”
Poulter has a backup putter in his room and will use an exact duplicate in the final round.
“It’s about time I took it out of play anyway,” said Poulter of his damaged putter. “It’s been in the bag four and a half months and it hasn’t come in much use since winning in Japan.”
Poulter, who had not really made a putt of any significant length the whole week, was not happy when his 11-footer for par at the 14th hole missed. En route from the 14th green to the 15th tee, Poulter’s Odyssey putter somehow connected with the concrete cart path.
After the collision, the weight in the putter became dislodged and, according to tournament officials, Rule 4:3/9, the putter became non-conforming. Thus Poulter was forced to use another club on the greens.
Poulter’s explanation: “If you were walking along with your putter in your hand, and you drop it on the path, it makes a little … .”
Poulter was then asked if he dropped it.
“No, no, look, look, I can get frustrated on the golf course, and trust me, I can break a golf club,” he said. “And I have done many. So that one was not in pure and utter anger. I was frustrated. Would I have dropped it on the path had I holed the 10- or 8-footer? Probably not. Put it this way, I was very, very, very surprised to see the weight move on the back. That’s was more of a shock. It was all, ‘Wow, that just happened.’ That was very surprising. But they’re only glued together and pinned together, so I suppose they’re not supposed to be coming to contact with the path, are they?”
Poulter finished his round using his wedge because it had the straightest leading edge, and then he made his longest putt of the week from 22 feet to save par on the 18th hole.
“It’s quite funny when you stand there and you’ve got a 18-footer and you haven’t really holed an 18-footer all week with your putter and you get to role one straight in the middle,” Poulter said. “It’s bizarre.”
Poulter has a backup putter in his room and will use an exact duplicate in the final round.
“It’s about time I took it out of play anyway,” said Poulter of his damaged putter. “It’s been in the bag four and a half months and it hasn’t come in much use since winning in Japan.”
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