By: Steve Eubanks – Global Golf Post

Not long after fighting the course, the elements and the mental fatigue of the Players Championship, Ian Poulter engaged in another fight on his second favorite battlefield, getting into a Twitter spat with GolfChannel’s Brandel Chamblee.

During post-tournament comments, Chamblee criticized Poulter for playing for money, for securing his status on tour and world-ranking points, and for not playing for the win. Chamblee – who is highly respected for doing his homework and rarely offers an opinion without thinking the matter through – analyzed Poulter for laying up from an iffy lie in the right rough of the par-5 16th hole (which was the easiest on the course from a scoring perspective), and following that by playing to the center of the green on 17 when he trailed Si Woo Kim by two shots.

“The person he is trying to beat is playing a par-5 behind him, and he’s got two shots to make up, and he plays to the middle of the green (on 17),” Chamblee said. “It’s a fine shot, didn’t cost himself any money, didn’t cost him any world-ranking points, but he clearly did not play to win … and he didn’t (win).”

Chamblee went on to say: “Money matters, world ranking points matter. I get it. I’ve hit that shot. I’ve done that. I have done exactly what Ian Poulter did. No one is ever going to call me a good player.”

As he is wont to do, Poulter took to Twitter to respond:

Poulter later tweeted a screenshot of Chamblee’s page showing that Poulter had been blocked. For the record, Chamblee expressed to me that he believes Twitter is an ether-filled ditch where rats and bacteria flourish. He uses the platform for work but doesn’t enjoy the venom it generates.

Poulter vents his feelings on Twitter regularly, and engages with fans and critics alike, sometimes in positive ways and sometimes in ways that earn worthy criticism. No matter what, he’s worth studying.

Here is John Hopkins on Poulter in this week’s Post:

JOHN HOPKINS: ONCE THE “FAT BOY BEHIND THE COUNTER,” POULTER HAS FOUGHT TO MAKE A NAME FOR HIMSELF

Republished with permission by Global Golf Post