Jordan Spieth and Ian Poulter were high-profile names to violate the PGA Tour playing policy last season, but the Englishman has made good on his mistake.
Poulter won the Houston Open, the final event before The Masters, which sent his calendar into a spin and ultimately resulted in him not fulfilling his obligations under the tour’s scheduling rules.
The 42-year-old was quick to consult the tour, and after contacting the organisers of the Wyndham Championship, he made things right.
Part of correcting his wrongs was to play at this week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions and next week’s Sony Open. The final piece of the puzzle was to invite eight guests to his home in Florida for golf, lunch and a tour of his office/museum.
‘I would say it was beyond what we would consider an acceptable make-good,’ said Andy Pazder, the Tour’s chief officer of tournaments and competitions. ‘To do what he did … was just terrific.’
‘Winning was going to put me in default,’ Poulter said.
‘I told them, “How do you want to go about it?” I’m going to be the first person, and it’s going to be sensitive. I want to give something back so I can fulfill an obligation.’
‘We had a great time,’ Poulter said.
‘I played nine holes with each group, we had a bite to eat, and a few of the guys wanted to see the car museum and my Ryder Cup office-homage. I took them through that.’
Inside Poulter’s museum are five Ryder Cup trophies, letters from Arnold Palmer, 60 Tour bags filled with clubs that he has used in his 20-year career, notes from when he taught juniors as a fledgling club pro and yardage books.
The penalty for Spieth, who missed his mark after failing to advance to the Tour Championship, is not yet known.
