"PETTY PELLEY!" Ian Poulter FIRES multiple shots at the DP World Tour
Ian Poulter mocks fellow LIV Golf pro Lee Westwood ahead of his 30th season on the DP World Tour, and takes a pop at Eddie Pepperell...
England's Ian Poulter has mocked his fellow LIV Golf League pro Lee Westwood on Twitter after his compatriot posted about heading into his 30th season on the DP World Tour.
He's also used a very interesting hashtag to get his views across about DP World Tour boss Keith Pelley.
Westwood, who started out on the European Tour (now the DP World Tour) in 1993, will join Poulter in starting his year of golf in next week's Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
They will be joined by a number of other LIV Golf players in Abu Dhabi next week including former Masters champion Patrick Reed and former Open champion Henrik Stenson, the latter who was sacked from his role as 2023 European Ryder Cup captain.
As it stands before an upcoming court hearing, LIV Golf players are permitted to continue playing in tournaments on the DP World Tour.
The story is very different over on the PGA Tour with all LIV Golf pros holding memberships still suspended on the circuit in 2023.
Related: Poults hits out at DP World Tour again, this time over Cam Smith fans
Happy 30th season
— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) January 11, 2023
Westwood, who turns 50 in April, took to Twitter before jumping aboard a flight to tee off his 2023 campaign.
He took a photo of his passport with his business class ticket, and captioned the post: "Season 30!!! Here we go again."
Poulter, who turned 47 earlier this week, then replied: "Happy 30th season".
To add some context to Poulter's comment, earlier in the day he took aim at the Ryder Cup Europe Twitter account for not saying happy birthday to Europe's all-time leading points scorer (who is also now on LIV Golf), Sergio Garcia.
"You can't just bring yourself to say a simple Happy Birthday," tweeted Poulter, in response to a clip of Francesco Molinari playing an incredible flop shot at the 2018 Ryder Cup. @TheSergioGarcia B'day Yesterday. Unfortunately this says so much."
What’s really an “incredible touch” is the Players that helped build the @RyderCupEurope Brand with other players as well. You just can’t bring yourself to say a simple Happy Birthday. @TheSergioGarcia B’day Yesterday. Unfortunately this says so much.
— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) January 10, 2023
Garcia has already ruled himself out of the Ryder Cup, even if LIV Golf players end up becoming eligible to compete in the biennial event.
The Spaniard has also given up his PGA Tour membership so that he can focus on all things LIV Golf now at the age of 43.
It is also understood he may never play a competitive event on the DP World Tour again.
Hahahaha don’t worry I will remind everyone when that 50 rolls around
— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) January 11, 2023
Westwood then responded to Poulter's comment about birthdays with: "Just FYI….. I’m of an age where I don’t want reminding that another birthday has come and gone!"
Poulter replied: "Hahahaha don’t worry I will remind everyone when that 50 rolls around."
But Poulter was not done there. Far from it, especially when DP World Tour pro Eddie Pepperell chimed in.
It’s alright Eddie they’ll pay for another commercial to celebrate yours #Goldenchildinviteking
— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) January 11, 2023
"I'm 32 in two weeks," Pepperell tweeted to Poulter. "Make sure you don't forget."
Poulter replied: "It’s alright Eddie they’ll pay for another commercial to celebrate yours [crying laughter faces] #goldenchildinviteking."
To add context to Poulter's tweet here, this is in reference to Pepperell's hilarious DP World Tour video back in August 2022.
If you've not checked it out yet, we highly recommend you watch it here. It's a cracker!
Poulter then used the hashtag #PettyPelley in reference to DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley.
Just highlighting the orders that have been given from the Top down.. #pettypelley
— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) January 11, 2023
Following a tweet from RTE Sport's Greg Allen about people being sent a simple birthday message, Poulter replied: "Just highlighting the orders that have been given from the Top down.. #pettypelley [crying laughter]."
The DP World Tour welcomes its inaugural Hero Cup this week, a new matchplay event between a GB & Ireland team captained by Tommy Fleetwood and a Continental Europe team skippered by Francesco Molinari.
The new event is the idea of 2023 European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald, who wants the format to act as a warm up for the Ryder Cup later this year.
Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland and Matt Fitzpatrick are not competing in the event, but just about every other European Ryder Cup candidate is in the line up in Abu Dhabi this week.
It remains unknown as to whether LIV Golf players such as Westwood and Poulter will still be able to qualify for the European Ryder Cup team.
Donald recently spoke about the issue, and let's just say LIV Golf players probably won't like the sound of his latest comments.
The Hero Cup - and LIV Golf - were hot topics of discussion on the brand new GolfMagic Podcast this week.
Two-time DP World Tour winner Ewen Ferguson, who is competing in the Hero Cup, joined us on our first episode.
You can watch our first episode below, or you can listen here:
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