LIV GOLFER RECALLS HOSTILE WESTWOOD/POULTER NEWS CONFERENCE: “I GAVE THEM A HUG”
Laurie Canter, who has played in LIV Golf events, has revealed what he said to Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood after a memorable new conference.
Laurie Canter has revealed he gave Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood each a hug after the English duo’s first news conference as LIV Golf players in which they faced a hostile media asking questions about whether they would tee it up in Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
Poulter and Westwood were two of the first high-profile golfers to make the leap to the breakaway tour in June 2022.
Week after week the two European Ryder Cup icons and their peers faced questions about being complicit in sportswashing and if they had concerns over Saudi Arabia’s human rights abuses.
For their parts both players insisted they were just doing what they had always done: make decisions as independent contractors.
They insisted they needn’t be banned from the established tours.
Poulter, 47, and Westwood, 50, have now resigned their PGA and DP World Tour memberships and, at least at this moment in time, have little to no chance of being involved in the Ryder Cup as either vice-captains or captains.
Canter, who has participated in several events for the rival league during the first two seasons, for his part, stated he has never had an issue with the source of the funding that LIV is using.
In the most recent episode of The Chipping Forecast, the Englishman discussed the topic in detail.
LIV players are frequently accused of being bought off and paid for by the Saudis, who then dictate what they say.
Canter conceded LIV players were prepped before the first news conference in June 2022 at Centurion Club.
Canter explained: “The straight answer to that is, just before the first event in London last year, I remember there a few key points about what LIV was trying to achieve in terms of the demographic they were trying to bring into the game, that kinda thing.
“To be honest a lot of them were, I feel, like every golfer would endorse and feel they fairly normal. It was just written down on a piece of paper.
“I haven’t had anyone telling me I can or cannot talk or do things. I think the interview requests for me are a little bit lower down the pecking order than some of the other guys on LIV.”
He continued: “So, from my own standpoint, I didn’t have a problem with the source of the money because I had played tournaments in Saudi Arabia before. I was comfortable with that.
“In terms of the moral haze within that, that wasn’t something that was… I don’t want to say particularly concerned with it’s just, I feel that’s the nature of our job [and] we go to a lot of places [that have issues with human rights].
“There’s lots of things about the places we go I don’t agree with. I remember at the time there were things going about the abortion laws in America and all that kind of stuff and I had just played in the PGA and I was thinking it depends where I’m going to draw that line.
“That really wasn’t something that worried me.”
Remind yourself of the Poulter, Westwood exchange here:
Discussing the Poulter and Westwood news conference, of which Canter attended, he continued: “That press conference was unbelievably uncomfortable.
“And when we got out and went into the holding room I gave them both a hug, Westwood and Poulter. They had to handle all of that.
“Obviously Ian came out, I feel like he reverts to all guns blazing. That’s how he operates if he feels something is being thrown at him that’s how he comes back.
“I can’t help but feeling sorry for a lot of the guys that had to do those interviews in the early days because there is no right and wrong answer. Everyone has got context to human rights [and] there’s so much around it you have to consider.
“It’s not, for me, a clear area. I could sit and debate it with people much smarter than me who could tell me all the reasons why it’s terrible what we’re doing.
“I looked at it in terms of, if you’re going to play professional golf that is something that in my opinion you sign up to do. You go and play where you have opportunities to play.
I think in my head that is how the world of golf works.”
Canter was asked what affect the criticism has had on the likes of Westwood and Poulter.
He said: “Because I had so little of that to deal with relative to them I don’t feel I answer that question for them but I can answer it if it had been me.
“I think it would take its toll. I think those guys, certainly the first year of LIV, it was every week.
“For those guys, it was challenging. One of the first things they had to deal with wherever they went was that they wanted to put their heads down and concentrate on golf.”
As for the top players on the PGA Tour, Canter claimed that having to respond to inquiries regarding the framework agreement from June 6th has brought them full circle.
“It’s bound to have had an affect,” he continued, “especially considering where everyone’s sentiment and feeling are right now in golf.”
“It’s evident from their responses that they were unable to express anything coherently. However, when you consider what they said to me in person, a lot of it was reasonable.”
