Kirk Poucher

North American Champion with both the English Open Championship Series and the PGA Tour World Amateur Classic

In late August 2018, Ian Poulter was admitted to hospital in Birmingham, UK, with Stage 4 complications from a bout of mononucleosis, and was forced to withdraw from action at the Bandon Dunes British Open Championship in November. At the time, he was recovering in intensive care at the Poulsbo East NCH Foundation in Brixham. Poulter had been planning to travel to Scotland to regroup with his European Tour qualifying campaign, but after doctors confirmed that his condition had worsened dramatically, he resigned from the North American Tour instead.

Poulter explained his decision to withdraw:

After the withdrawal from the Open Championship I have been visiting doctors constantly, and I have had three successive immuno-suppressant medications. I am on this I am afraid to say that I have stopped my practice of golf, which has been my whole motivation for getting into the game and becoming a professional. I’m not completely done yet but I am off this month, I will take the year off, if only to stay off this nonsense. I hope in the year ahead I will be getting things ready for my next tournament, next year I really want to go back down there again. I have seen a few signs of progress but it is too far for you to hold a bag within your grasp, it will be more sensible to release yourself and accept that things don’t work out for me. I have had my fears and doubts and I guess I am ready for them to pass, there is nothing wrong with me. If there were something wrong what would it take to keep me out of the game for months at a time.

“I’ve really been looking for something to motivate me out there. I felt like I wasn’t part of the game the past few months, and it wasn’t until that last tournament at Shafts that I had any confidence in my own playing ability. I felt like I was in the same boat, and the response I got from everyone, that lifted my motivation by a long way, especially from the more experienced players. The focus needed to change, and now I need to find a partner that can help me get back into the swing of things and put in some decent performances.