Ian Poulter took to Twitter to defend himself against accusations made by a Scottish Open marshal, who alleged Poulter was verbally abusive. Poulter called the situation “disappointing.”
Quintin Jardine tweeted a link to a lengthy blog post on Saturday, which he says is the text of a letter he wrote to the Scottish Open tournament director. You can read the entire letter here, as it goes into detail about an encounter the volunteer had with Poulter.
“I am one of dozens of volunteers who have been contributing to the success of the Scottish Open,” he wrote. “I don’t do it for the meal vouchers or the shirt, but to help my golf club make the event a success, and for the benefit of my home village. I certainly don’t do it to be abused by a competitor.”
Jardine wrote that a Poulter drive disappeared into a bush in the left rough off the 1st fairway, but a fellow volunteer told Jardine the ball was visible, so Jardine didn’t approach it. He said Poulter then arrived “in a shower of expletives” and asked where his ball was.
“I told him and said that I had not ventured into the bush for fear of standing on it,” Jardine wrote. “He told me in essence that I should have, his reasoning being that if I stood on the ball it was a free drop, whereas if he did it was a penalty.”
Ian Poulter is an arsehole https://t.co/jz6g58MPWA
— Quintin Jardine (@QuintinJardine) July 14, 2018
Jardine said that after Poulter hit out of the bush, the 42-year-old Englishman came back to him and reiterated his point, saying if this happens again he should go feet first into the bush.
“Industrial language doesn’t bother me,” said Jardine, who added he doesn’t want Poulter to be fined, “but truculent aggression does.”
Poulter tweeted on Sunday afternoon saying the marshal “clearly misunderstood my explanation.”
Poulter attached a note to his tweet, which started: “Extremely sad to see a Marshall has wrote in and complained about me aiming abuse at him on the first hole. … “Venting at myself like I do at times I said a couple of choice words aimed at myself. I do not abuse Marshalls. I may have done in my early years.”
You can read Poulter’s entire note below. Poulter tied for 30th at the Scottish Open and is in the field for next week’s British Open.
Disappointing. Clearly misunderstood my explanation. pic.twitter.com/YcKHMPf2v7
— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) July 15, 2018
