Why did LIV Golf's Ian Poulter skip Open qualifying? "Not easy to play 36 holes"

LIV Golf players Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter have addressed the reasons why they chose not to qualify for the forthcoming Open Championship.

Ben Smith

05 Jul 2023

Why did LIV Golf's Ian Poulter skip Open qualifying? "Not easy to play 36 holes" — Why did LIV Golf's Ian Poulter skip Open qualifying? "Not easy to play 36…

LIV Golf players Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter have opened up on their decision not to attempt to qualify for the forthcoming Open championship at Royal Liverpool.

The English golfers are at Centurion Club just outside of London getting ready for the breakaway tour's ninth event of their 2023 campaign.

It was confirmed in late June the duo wouldn't be attempting to get into the field to have a chance to lift the Claret Jug at Hoylake.

As for Westwood, it will be the first time in nearly 30 years he will miss what he described on Wednesday as the 'greatest championship in the world'.

Fellow LIV player Sergio Garcia narrowly missed out on one of five spots at West Lancashire in final qualifying.

Why did LIV Golf's Ian Poulter skip Open qualifying?

Both Westwood, 50, and Poulter, 47, contended their decision was down to scheduling, the lack of world ranking points and joked about their ageing bodies.

Poulter told the media when asked to explain his decision:

"It's not easy to play 36 holes, travel back obviously from Europe. Obviously I'd like to have made the Open Championship, but I'd like to have made it obviously through the world ranking points system, which we know is obviously not there.

"For me it's about having the right amount of time off to be fresh and ready to play golf. I've got a big tournament this week to play. Team Majesticks need me as fit as possible.

"Being 47, I'm not a spring chicken anymore, I've played quite a lot of Opens. It's one of those decisions that I had to make, and I made the right decision golf for my golf."

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| Lee Westwood has vowed he will never rejoin the DP World Tour. pic.twitter.com/sYeVSNKkCx
— GolfMagic (@GolfMagic) June 16, 2023

Westwood said when he planned his 2023 schedule he was hoping to play in his first Senior Open Championship.

The golfer, who has won 44 times around the globe and participated in as many as 11 Ryder Cups, has been barred from competing at Royal Porthcawl.

He was refused entry because of alleged outstanding fines owed to the DP World Tour following his move to LIV Golf in 2022.

The DP World Tour oversees the Seniors Open alongside the R&A. The R&A is the sole governing body of the Open Championship.

Westwood said:

"I sit down at the start of the year, do a schedule, and see when the qualifying was for the Open Championship. I knew this was going to be a busy week, knew that I played Valderrama, thought it was a good opportunity to play my first ever seniors event and it be the Seniors Open Championship, which is the week after the Open.

"So I'd entered and committed to that. Unfortunately, the Seniors Open doesn't look to be as open as the Open Championship, so was barred from playing in that. So now got three weeks off, and then I'll go into more LIV events.

"My idea and goal was to go and play in the Seniors Open Championship the week after, being 50 and it be my first opportunity. I thought that was going to give me the best opportunity to perform well and have a chance at winning that."

Westwood later said that he had settled his fine. Poulter confirmed that he, too, paid a £100,000 fine.

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