19th Hole
Ian Poulter blasts DP World Tour over media restrictions; DP World Tour responds

Ian Poulter was once the darling of the European golf world.
Known as ‘The Postman’ for his ability to always deliver the points at the Ryder Cup, his inspiration as a team player far outstripped the 12 European and three PGA titles he won as an individual.
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However, since joining the LIV series, some of those fervent supporters have gone by the wayside, some even jeering him at the 150th Open Championship at St. Andrews, and things don’t seem to have improved yet.
Initially banned by the DP World Tour from three events, including the Scottish Open, Poulter overturned that decision in the courts, eventually missing the cut at The Renaissance Club before finishing tied-62 at St. Andrews and tied-23 at last weekend’s Czech Masters.
Whilst that was his best finish since Abu Dhabi in January, the 46-year-old couldn’t wait to take to social media to show his annoyance at apparently being treated differently to other members of the tour.
His Twitter post briefly told us what he thought:
Thanks #CzechMasters and @PetrDedekDDreal you run and promote a great tournament. Congratulations.
Sorry I couldn’t post more videos as @DPWorldTour restricted us. Hope to come back to Czech Republic soon you guys have been amazing. pic.twitter.com/lmsVS14fd2
— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) August 21, 2022
However, on his Instagram story, Poulter went to town:
“I thought I was still a member of the DP World Tour but I guess they have other ideas,” he claimed, before continuing.
“Really sorry that I am unable to share any good TV clips of us from the @czechmastersofficial or any @dpworldtour tournament moving forward as @dpworldtour have denied us any footage that was freely available and they’d be happy to share on request in the past. We will do what we can to share content as we can. Sorry friends.”
“I thought I was still a member of the @dpworldtour but I guess they have other ideas. Well actually I am but I’m being treated very differently to a member. Sorry fans I hope we all have a resolve on this as soon as possible.”
This week, the DP World Tour hit back hard.
A spokesman for the ruling body told Bunkered.com that
“Based on the recent ruling by Sport Resolutions UK, Ian Poulter is permitted to play in tournaments on the DP World Tour and is at no competitive disadvantage in those appearances.
“However, his participation is not contingent upon him receiving any off-course benefits from the DP World Tour.”
Poulter seems to be playing on one reason given by Phil Mickelson for joining LIV at the start of the controversy. Back then, Mickelson said he wanted to instigate change in the way the PGA Tour handles media rights and the options offered to players.
The ‘freedom’ to play less golf, spend more time with family and the shotgun 54-hole starts were also offered as valid reasons for jumping ship.
As Mark Fox, of The Plugged Lie podcast, replied though:
The DP World Tour has restricted you? Have you read your contract? pic.twitter.com/4QsmsMjWl2
— Mark Fox (@ThePluggedLie) August 22, 2022
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19th Hole
‘Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight’ – LPGA pro offers candid take following rough AIG Women’s Open finish

An opening round of 77 left LPGA pro Jenny Shin with a mountain to climb at last week’s AIG Women’s Open.
However, fighting back with rounds of 69 and 67, Shin found herself six shots off the lead and just outside the top 10 heading into Sunday as she went in search of her first major victory.
Shin, who won the US Girls’ Junior at just 13, couldn’t back those rounds up on Sunday, though, and after playing her opening nine holes of the final round in level par, she then bogeyed three holes coming home to slip down the leaderboard and eventually finish T23.
Taking to X following the final round, Shin offered a frustrated and honest take on how she was feeling, posting: “Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish.”
Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish
— Jenny Shin (@JennyShin_LPGA) August 3, 2025
Shin has made 11 cuts in 13 starts on the LPGA Tour this season, but has been plagued by frustrating Sunday finishes throughout the year. Shin ranks 102nd on tour this year out of 155 for Round 4 scoring in 2025.
Miyu Yamashita won the 2025 AIG Women’s Open with a composed final round of 70 to win her first major of her career by two strokes.
19th Hole
How a late golf ball change helped Cameron Young win for first time on PGA Tour

Cameron Young won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday for his first victory on the PGA Tour.
Young dominated all weekend at TPC Sedgefield, running away from the pack to win by six strokes and put himself in contention for a Ryder Cup pick in September.
Ahead of the event, the 28-year-old switched to a Pro V1x prototype golf ball for the first time, following recent testing sessions with the Titleist Golf Ball R&D team.
Interestingly, Young played a practice round accompanied by Fordie Pitts, Titleist’s Director of Tour Research & Validation, at TPC Schedule early last week with both his usual Pro V1 Left Dot ball and the new Pro V1x prototype.
Per Titleist, by the second hole Young was exclusively hitting shots with the Pro V1x prototype.
“We weren’t sure if he was going to test it this week, but as he was warming up, he asked to hit a couple on the range,” Pitts said. “He was then curious to see some shots out on the course. Performance-wise, he was hitting tight draws everywhere. His misses were staying more in play. He hit some, what he would call ‘11 o’clock shots,’ where again he’s taking a little something off it. He had great control there.”
According to Titleist, the main validation came on Tuesday on the seventh hole of his practice round. The par 3 that played between 184 and 225 yards during the tournament called for a 5-iron from Young, or so he thought. Believing there was “no way” he could get a 6-iron to the flag with his Left Dot, Young struck a 5-iron with the Pro V1x prototype and was stunned to see the ball land right by the hole.
“He then hits this 6-iron [with the Pro V1x prototype] absolutely dead at the flag, and it lands right next to the pin, ending up just past it,” Pitts said. “And his response was, ‘remarkable.’ He couldn’t believe that he got that club there.”
Following nine holes on Tuesday and a further nine on Wednesday, Young asked the Titleist team to put the ProV1x balls in his locker. The rest, as they say, is history.
19th Hole
Rickie Fowler makes equipment change to ‘something that’s a little easier on the body’

Rickie Fowler fired an opening round of one-under par on Thursday at the Wyndham Championship, as the Californian looks to make a FedEx Cup playoff push.
Fowler is currently 61st in the standings, so will need a strong couple of weeks to extend his season until the BMW Championship, where only the top 50 in the standings will tee it up.
Heading into the final stretch of the season, Fowler has made an equipment switch of note, changing into new iron shafts, as well as making a switch to his driver shaft.
The 36-year-old revealed this week that he has switched from his usual KBS Tour C-Taper 125-gram steel shafts to the graphite Aerotech SteelFiber 125cw shafts in his Cobra King Tour irons, a change he first put into play at last month’s Travelers Championship.
Speaking on the change to reporters this week, Fowler made note that the graphite shafts offer “something that’s a little easier on the body.”
“I mean, went to the week of Travelers, so been in for, I guess that’s a little over a month now. Something that’s a little easier on the body and seemed to get very similar numbers to where I was at. Yeah, it’s gone well so far.”
Fowler has also made a driver shaft change, switching out his Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73 TX for a UST Mamiya Lin-Q Proto V1 6 TX driver shaft in his Cobra DS-Adapt X, which he first implemented a couple of weeks ago at the John Deere Classic.
However, according to Fowler himself, the testing and potential changes are not done yet.
“Probably do some more testing in some different weight configurations with them once I get some time. Yeah, I feel like we’re always trying to search, one, to get better but are there ways to make things easier, whether that’s physically, mentally, whatever it may be. So yeah, I thought they were good enough to obviously put into play and looking forward to doing some more testing.”
Fowler gets his second round at TPC Sedgefield underway at 7.23 a.m ET on Friday.