“Makes Me Feel Old” – A Unique Open Championship Relic Assists LIV Golf Defector Ian Poulter in Taking a Stroll Down Memory Lane

The final major of men’s golf, The Open, is now just days away; it’s set to begin on Thursday. The four-day event is scheduled to take place at Royal Liverpool Golf Course, with many of the biggest names in golf from both the PGA Tour and LIV Golf taking part in it.

While those taking the field have undoubtedly begun their preparations to bring out their best performance, Ian Poulter is not among them. Instead, the LIV star is taking a stroll down memory lane thanks to a blast from the past, reflecting on his past with the British Open!

Ian Poulter thinks back on the good old days

Just days before the final major of the season, the English golf pro is thinking back on a few specific years from his previous participation at The Open. The reason for his sudden past thoughts rushing back was because of a relic the LIV golfer found and shared with his fans on his Instagram story on Saturday this week.

In the story, Poulter shared a picture of this relic, which was nothing other than his old iPhone. In the post, the LIV star revealed how the phone reminded him of how old he was. He wrote, “Found my old phone in the cupboard.. Makes me feel old🤣🤣🤣🤣.” But how then did this antique iPhone bring back memories of the Open for the golfer? Well, it was because of the stickers on the back that were from the 2008 and 2009 British Open!

Of course, these weren’t the only two years the 2010 World Golf Championship winner played at the major, but perhaps he changed his phone after! Surprisingly, his performance on the course at the event those years was certainly not his best. The golfer was unable to make the cut in 2009, and in 2010, he finished tied for 60th place.

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All in all, the 47-year-old has played 20 times at the event and made the cut in 13 of those attempts. His best finish surprisingly came the year before he took his old iPhone to the event in 2008, when he came in second, losing out by just 4 strokes to Padraig Harrington. Unfortunately, the Ryder Cup Hero will not be competing at the major this year. Perhaps that’s the reason behind his mysterious dive into his past at The Open.

Why is Poulter not competing at the 2023 British Open?

In the 2023 season, Poulter plays a much shorter schedule than usual, with just 14 events. This, of course, is thanks to his jump to LIV Golf last year. The Englishman may have been able to make his way to the field of The Open this year had he competed in the qualifying event. However, he chose not to do that.

Additionally, he could have qualified for the event through his OWGR ranking, but since LIV events don’t currently award ranking points, his standings on the OWGR leaderboard have been declining too. While the top 50 golfers as per the standings receive invites to the major, Poulter was nowhere close to getting one this year since he presently sits at 302nd.

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Nonetheless, the LIV star undoubtedly has many remarkable memories from his past at the major. And hopefully the phone brought back many such memories for him!