LIV GOLF KOREA

May 28, 2026

Ian Poulter

Asiad Country Club

Majesticks GC

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Let's welcome to the media center, Ian Poulter, co-captain of Majesticks GC. 4-under 66. Please take us through the day and how you felt out there.

IAN POULTER: Yeah, I felt great, carrying on from Virginia, to be honest. I tore my meniscus Thursday of Virginia just hopping up two steps, so went for an MRI when I got back from Virginia, and yeah, I'm going to have to have surgery in September. Kind of took a whole week off, kind of did a bit of rehab, started to hit balls again, and swing feels great.

Went out there today, drove it and played nicely. Really was hitting my iron shots really nice. Didn't hole that many putts early on, and then I started to hit a few shots pretty tight and rolled a couple of putts in, and it adds up to a pretty decent round.

Q. Given that experience just a couple weeks ago, at the time if you found out that you'd be here near the top of the leaderboard after round 1 in Korea, would you have thought that was possible?

IAN POULTER: No. As soon as it happened, I didn't think I was going to play an hour before tee-off. So it was that crazy. It's such a shame. I've been swinging the club so good this year. Really feel like I'm striking it well. The new irons are working a treat.

I'm really enjoying putting some new clubs in the bag and all of the kind of -- all of the business stuff that goes around the new McLaren equipment. I'm energized. I'm excited to play golf.

My son won SEC regionals a week and a half ago, so it's like, okay, I have to step up my game.

Look, it's wonderful to be in this position. It's great to see Luke playing such great golf. It's really spurring me on.

Long may it continue.

Q. Where does it impact you in terms of the torn meniscus? Is it just walking? Do you feel it when you're on the course? When do you feel it?

IAN POULTER: Bizarrely I have no sensation throughout the golf swing that there's anything wrong with it. I sense it when I'm walking downhill, steep downhills. I'm just edging it a little bit. But look, I'm going to have to strengthen that leg. It's not affecting my golf in any way, shape or form.

I just have to be reminding to myself that I can't go and play paddle tennis or do anything stupid or hop up steps like I did a couple of weeks ago. Walking in straight lines and being super sensible is not something I'm used to doing.

Look, I feel good. I feel great. The body feels good. We'll deal with that at some stage.

Q. Obviously there's been a lot of focus on the McLaren irons. Have they made that much of a difference right away? How would you categorize it?

IAN POULTER: Yeah, I put them in the bag, and obviously we knew when the launch was going to be, so I had a few weeks to dial them in. Having a couple of weeks and really spending some good time with them to fine tune them exactly how I want them, it wasn't an issue putting them straight in the bag.

I felt they looked better, turf interaction was better, the divots were better, ball flight was better, so it's a pretty easy switch to be able to put them in the bag.

Q. Is it more of a mental thing in terms of confidence, or is it a balance of physical and mental in terms of the gains that you get from those kind of clubs?

IAN POULTER: Yeah, it's 5-iron to 9-iron in series one. I think the first thing you have to do is really like what you're looking at. The engineers and the design team have made a really good-looking golf club. When I put it down, it's already pleasing on the eye, so it gives you a good feeling when you stand over the ball. They perform very well. I've had no issues at all with them.

Yeah, I'm enjoying having them in the bag.

Q. You've won in 12 different countries in your career, four of them in Asia but never in Korea. How much do you enjoy playing in Asia, and are there specific challenges to playing on Korean courses?

IAN POULTER: Well, I nearly won the Kolon Korean Open in 2008 I think it was, but I decided to bogey the last, the par-5, and the guy I was playing with decided to birdie it, so there was a two-shot swing and he managed to win the tournament, so I was right there in the lead with one hole to play.

Look, I actually like this golf course. It's not long. It's fiddly. It's positional golf off the tee. I drove it exceptionally well today. You know, the green complexes, there's quite a lot of slopes, and they're trying to tuck the pins because obviously the greens took a lot of water on Wednesday. I think they probably took three inches in rain.

I was relatively surprised the scoring wasn't a bit lower, but obviously playing it the way I played it today, tucked some of those pins away, and it was quite hard to get at.

Yeah, I love being in Asia. I love being here to play golf. The fans are great. I'm excited for this weekend.