20 Things You Didn’t Know About Ian Poulter

1. Poulter turned pro off a handicap of four, developing his skills as an assistant pro at Leighton Buzzard Golf Club where he would often give kids lessons for £1.

2. His first club was Chesfield Downs in Hertfordshire.

3. He worked under coach Lee Scarborough.

4. He is an avid Arsenal fan and has even worn one of the team's shirts during a tournament. He once had trials for Arsenal's North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur when he was 13 years old.

5. His first tournament win was over 36 holes. He shot 66 both days and won £1,500, which was the equivalent of two months' work when he was an assistant pro.

6. Poulter started playing golf when he was four years old with a cut down 3 wood. His dad, Terry, was a single figure player.

7. He joined the Challenge Tour in 1999 and secured his European Tour card for the 2000 season. He won the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award on the European Tour in 2000 after winning his maiden title at the Italian Open. He later joined the PGA Tour in 2005 and moved over to Florida.

8. His best result in a Major came at the 2008 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, where he finished second to Padraig Harrington.

9. Poulter has had 10 regular European Tour wins, two WGC victories, and one other PGA Tour win. The PGA Tour victory came in 2018 at the Houston Open, which he needed to win to qualify for The Masters the following week.

10. The Englishman is a huge Formula 1 and regularly attends races.

11. He is an avid car collector and is reported to own 14 Ferraris. He sold one of them, a Ferrari F12, to Rory McIlroy. His collection was estimated to be worth $25m by the Car Collectors Club.

12. He has won four points in a Ryder Cup on two occasions, once in 2008 at Valhalla, and the other in Medinah in 2012. At Medinah, Poulter's five birdies in the last five holes to secure a crucial point on Saturday evening gave the team the impetus needed to pull off the incredible comeback.

13. Poulter previously had his own clothing line called IJP Design. It closed in 2017 after ten years due to the "ever increasingly competitive landscape."

14. He famously wore Union Jack trousers at the 2004 Open Championship. After the tournament he donated them for auction for an event benefitting Yorkhill Children's Hospital in Scotland.

15. Poulter has previously done charity work for Dreamflight and Chideo. Dreamflight takes children on a holiday of a lifetime to Orlando, Florida. Chideo is a content-driven fundraising platform.

16. Poulter is married to Katie and they have four children together. They are called Aimee-Leigh, Luke, Joshua and Lily-Mai. Joshua is an aspiring tour pro himself and has previously caddied for his dad out on tour.

17. He lives in Orlando, Florida at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club.

18. His home club in the UK is Woburn, which has three courses that all feature in Golf Monthly's UK&I top 100 rankings - the Duke's, Duchess' and Marquess'.

19. He joined LIV Golf in 2022 for a fee reported to be up to $30m. He is captain for the all-European Majesticks GC team.

20. Poulter has earned over $28m on the PGA Tour and over €27.5m on the DP World Tour (formerly known as the European Tour), to sit 8th on the all-time list.