Ian Poulter has probably worked himself into the "best player to never win a major" conversation -- particularly after carrying the European Ryder Cup team last fall -- but that doesn't, in general, make him any more tolerable. Despite his considerable talents, Poulter's whinging can be grating at times. Like, say, this week. Apparently, he is the only person adversely affected by the rainforest-like conditions at Bethpage Black.
Poulter's been using Twitter to bellyache about the course, and he's even got visual proof!
"Perfect drive on 10th 235 yards to go into the wind. And that's what you get ... Perfect 3 wood straight into a bunker,"To clarify, Poulter later writes that, "Just for your info I didn't tweet during a round, I took a picture of the ball then sent it during our break between rounds." Except that even if Poulter had snapped a photo during his round it wouldn't have been a rules violation. Via the AP:
"As long as it's not being used to gather information that would help him," USGA rules official Wendy Uzelac said.Either way, Poulter's in the clear. And while he's occasionally annoying, he sounds like a decent guy.
She referred to Rule 14-3, which covers artificial devices, unusual equipment and unusual use of equipment that cannot help a player "in making a stroke or in his play" and "for the purpose of gauging or measuring distance or conditions that might affect his play."
"I did meet the guy I gave the tickets too. Nice guy I'm glad we played today he drove 6 hours to watch. I'm glad he had a great day.Although I'm guessing that won't slow up the hecklers.
