19th Hole
Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter involved in ugly Twitter spat with DP World Tour pro

Whilst we have seen plenty of rhetoric from the leaders of the three major tours — Jay Monahan, Keith Pelley, and Greg Norman — social media has been the scene of much frenetic and biting conversation between players.
One of the most vociferous anti-LIV golfers has been Eddie Pepperell, who has always used Twitter as his go-to outlet for tales of red wine, his dogs, and his play, which he often describes as honestly as he can, as when finishing the Spanish Open:
Thanks to @accionaopen for a cracking week here in Madrid! ? Disappointing day for me today, I was not good. Big @JonRahmpga however… ??? what a player and what a fantastic atmosphere, so thank you for playing. ??? Can’t wait to come back next year. ??
— Eddie Pepperell (@PepperellEddie) October 9, 2022
Being as forthright and honest as he is has taken Pepperell to having over 170k followers, with many viewing his constant spats with current LIV players, in particular Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter.
Pepperell’s anti-LIV stance knows few boundaries, and he recently commented on the status of LIV players, as well as changing his Twitter bio to read, “LIV golfer in the making.”
I’ll say, I actually flew home immediately after missing a cut last year in Dubai to make a friends wedding. That wouldn’t have happened had I been on LIV, or been any good. So there’s that.
— Eddie Pepperell (@PepperellEddie) September 3, 2022
And so to the latest row, occurring after golf columnist Alistair Tait asked if the sponsors on the DP World Tour events might jump to LIV before becoming “a European Tour casualty in the current war of attrition that is professional golf.”
In the column, Tait queries the quality of recent European events, noting, “Thank goodness defending champion Matt Fitzpatrick is playing at Valderrama Golf Club in Sotogrande, Spain. The U.S. Open champion brings star quality to a tournament that deserves far more stars.”
Westwood and Poulter took to Twitter to voice their support, with Westwood commenting, “Finger on the pulse Alistair,” and Poults claiming he was, “Bang on as normal…”
Pepperell seized his chance and asked the winner of the 2004 Andalucia Masters why he didn’t play Valderrama this year.
Poults came back:
I just wanted an answer.
— Eddie Pepperell (@PepperellEddie) October 15, 2022
Poulter then replied with, “Oh Eddie, I’m playing at the same venue the European Tour had an event for 3 years… i can’t play both at once. Valderrama is one of the best courses in Europe. I’d love to play there again one day. That was a big win in 2004 I remember picking up €625k. Now answer my Questions”
Pepperrell also asked Poulter’s Ryder Cup and LIV ‘Majesticks’ teammate why he wasn’t at Valderrama this year.
Westwood starts by re-routing the question back to the originator, and the comment is met with that famous Batman ‘Ooof!’ – “Why weren’t you playing Eddie? I know you like a fine Rioja.”
The answer is, as ever, honest.
I didn’t get in, cause I was a crock of shit last year.
— Eddie Pepperell (@PepperellEddie) October 15, 2022
Westwood notices the chance to take a swipe:
Really? Couldn’t secure an invite? I thought it was a perk of being on the players committee again? Thought you had a hotline to KP’s invite batphone!
Don’t start down the “support of the ET” road with me Ed. It’s a battle you can’t win.— Lee Westwood (@WestwoodLee) October 15, 2022
before Pepperrell finishes with a final left hook:
“That’s not a battle I’m after.. I was simply asking why you weren’t play Valderrama after praising Alistair’s article. I think I know the answer.. but I could be wrong. (What I think I know, has nothing to do with your want to support the ET, more you ability to…)”
It’s not great, not nice to read, and certainly nowhere nearer to getting players across the tours to walk hand-in-hand down a fairway, wherever that fairway may be.
At the end of LIV Jeddah, Westwood finished tied 12th, Poulter tied 28th, five and nine shots shy of the 12-under posted by winner Brooks Koepka.
Pepperrell didn’t play this week.
More from the 19th Hole
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.