Poulter in contention thanks to Gay’s wife
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Ian Poulter was not even supposed to be here.
Then he got what amounted to a get-out-of-jail free card.
And now he’s in position to win the Players Championship.
Poulter carded a 1-under 71 in Saturday’s third round, the only bogey-free round on a difficult blustery day around the tricky TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course, leaving him three shots out of the lead held by J.B. Holmes and Kyle Stanley.
Holmes, who shot 70 on Saturday, and Stanley, who shot 72, are both 9-under. Louis Oosthuizen, who shot 73, is 8-under. Si Woo Kim, who shot 68, is 7-under.
But the compelling story of the tournament as it enters Sunday’s final round is Poulter, the colorful Brit who has made his reputation as the soul of so many European Ryder Cup teams.
Three weeks ago, when he missed the cut at the Valero Texas Open, which left him $30,000 short of money he was supposed to earn to fulfill the criteria from his major medical extension, it looked like Poulter had lost his PGA Tour card.
Poulter played just 13 events in the 2015-16 season because of a foot injury, and the PGA Tour gave him 10 events in 2017 to earn 218 FedExCup points or $347,634 and remain exempt for the rest of this season. He came up about $30,000 short in the money category.
That meant he would be eligible to play in only another six or seven tournaments this year and maybe a couple of more on sponsor exemptions before the FedExCup tournaments begin in August.
But the wife of fellow PGA Tour member Brian Gay, who was in the same situation as Poulter, unearthed a mistake made by the PGA Tour, which had changed its guidelines regarding major medical extensions and how it calculates its FedExCup point distribution. The PGA Tour recognized its mistake and reinstated both Gay and Poulter.
“I thought I wasn’t in here [at the Players], and obviously Brian managed to realize that the points were being calculated on the wrong year, so it’s a bonus,” Poulter said earlier this week.
On Saturday, Poulter sounded like a man released from wearing shackles.
“I’ve definitely been obviously freer this week playing golf than I have in the last month, and I think it shows on the course,’’ Poulter said. “I think it shows probably in my attitude on the course. It’s a big deal. It was a nice phone call to receive, and I definitely feel better on the golf course for it.
“All jokes aside, this is a big week for me. I think having the opportunity now trying to take that opportunity and press forward as hard as I can. I feel like obviously the door has been opened. I want to walk through that door. I want to press forward and keep playing good golf.’’
A win Sunday would be massive for Poulter, who hasn’t won since 2012. It would give him a five-year exemption on the PGA Tour, and all the stress of trying to retain his playing status would be behind him.
Poulter, who positioned himself Friday with a 5-under 67, laughed at another bit of pressure he faced in his second round.
“One of the toughest things was I had a late teeoff time and it was taking five hours to play, and I know [my wife] Katie and the kids were driving up late in the afternoon [from Orlando],” he said. “[I didn’t] want to be passing them on the way back home if I played bad [and missed the cut]. So that was on my mind [Friday].”
Asked what he might do for Brian Gay and his wife, Kimberly, should he win Sunday, Poulter said, “I’ve already done something quite nice. They like red wine and champagne, and I know Kimberly likes the odd treatment, so yeah, I’m sure they’ll be quite happy.”
As for the Stanley-Holmes final pairing Sunday, Stanley said, “Just enjoy the moment, the opportunity, Mother’s Day, final group of the Players … it doesn’t get much better than that. [The leaderboard] is pretty tight. There are a lot of guys kind of stacked up together.”