3x PGA Tour winner Ian Poulter calls himself “complete idiot” for accidentally throwing his ball into water during 2004 The Players Championship

The 2025 edition of The Players Championship concluded on Monday with a playoff win for Rory McIlroy. As the curtain came down on this event, 3-time PGA Tour winner Ian Poulter reflected on one of his biggest mistakes during the 2004 event and called himself a “complete idiot“.

During the 2004 event, one small mistake from Poulter almost cost him two strokes. After missing a birdie putt, he went up to mark his ball. As he bent down, he would swipe his ball in frustration.

The Englishman accidentally ended up throwing his ball into the water. As per the rules, he needed to finish the hole with that ball. If he took a new one, he would be assessed a two-stroke penalty.

Luckily for him, his physio Kam Bhabra came to his rescue. The physical therapist would dive down underwater and bring out the ball. Poulter would end up making a par on that hole thanks to Bhabra.

Before the event, this clip of Poulter resurfaced once again on social media. On Monday night, the golfer looked back at the incident and explained what had happened. He even expressed gratitude to Bhabra for the troubles he went to.

What a complete idiot. Swiped it up in anger and I didn’t have hold of it properly. Glad Kam my physio at the time was walking around and agreed to go searching for it. Saved me a lot of money so purchased he and his wife a couple of nice watches.

Ian Poulter on X

What a complete idiot. Swiped it up in anger and I didn’t have hold of it properly. Glad Kam my physio at the time was walking around and agreed to go searching for it. Saved me a lot of money so purchased he and his wife a couple of nice watches 👍🏼🙏🏼🙌🏼 https://t.co/7K3IVCZzCc

— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) March 17, 2025

Poulter went on to shot even par during that event and finished the tournament T33. He would thank Bhabra for his help by gifting him and his watches from the money that he saved from the tournament.

Ian Poulter claims Ryder Cup is not an option for him at the moment

The Ryder Cup action will return this year as Team Europe and Team USA will once again tee off against each other. This year the action will take place at the Bethpage Course in New York, where Team Europe will be looking to go back-to-back following their win in 2023. Ian Poulter, a Ryder Cup great, recently claimed that this competition is not an option for him at the moment.

Poulter is one of the most successful players for Team Europe in the Ryder Cup. In his 7 appearances in the event, the 49-year-old has an impressive 15-8-2 record and is 6-0-1 in single appearances. During this, he has amassed 16 points and has helped his side win the event on 5 occasions.

However, after his move to LIV Golf, he was banned from the Ryder Cup. While speaking with Al Arabiya before the LIV Golf Riyadh event, Poulter did admit that things could change in the future which could see him return.

Never say never right. As it stands today that isn’t an option for me, but things change quite quickly like we’ve seen in the golf landscape, so let’s see how things play out, you never know.

Ian Poulter told Al Arabiya

Poulter’s name also came up during the Genesis Invitational. A reporter would ask Rory McIlroy whether he saw some of the LIV Golf players as potential Ryder Cup captains. The reporter would later ask McIlroy whether Poulter or Lee Westwood could be the captain. The North Irishman claimed that they gave up their European membership and needed to be back on the European tour to convince him.

Rory McIlroy isn't sold on LIV players as Ryder Cup captains yet. 👀 pic.twitter.com/a13Fo6LfDM

— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) February 14, 2025

If reunification of the sport does take place with the merger deal between the PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund (PIF), Poulter could be in line for the captaincy role in the future given his experience in this event.

Ian Poulter once again struggling on LIV Golf

Ever since making a move to LIV Golf, Poulter has struggled with his game. During the LIV Golf Chicago event last year, he was in the drop zone. However, a 5th place finish saw him climb out of that. The new season so far has not brought any changes for him.

The Englishman is once again struggling with form. Poulter once again finds himself in the drop zone with some poor finishes in the tournaments. Since finishing T30 in the Riyadh event, the golfer has recorded a T31, T42 and T49 finish in the Adelaide, Hong Kong, and Singapore event.

While being one of the co-captains of the team, he is ranked bottom among his other teammates. Due to his status as a captain, he would avoid being relegated from the league. He though would likely be hoping for much better performance than this.