THE NORTHERN TRUST

August 20, 2020

Ian Poulter

TPC Boston

Quick Quotes

Q. You mentioned a little bit this isn't necessarily a place where you expected to play well, but here you are for the first round sitting pretty.

IAN POULTER: Yeah, I've played nice today. Through the years, I haven't come away from this golf course feeling awfully happy about the results. I think I've only had one reasonable finish out of all the times we've been. It's not a golf course I love, so I kind of just got to push that to the back of my mind and still be aggressive, and I need all parts of my game to be firing to give myself any kind of a chance this week. What I did well today was I drove it very well, I gave myself plenty of looks, I missed two greens in regulation and I holed a couple of nice putts, and it all adds up to a nice start.

Q. Talk about getting off to a good start in the Playoffs; how important is that as you go into this three-week stretch?

IAN POULTER: I'm taking this as a two-day stretch and then another two-day stretch and then we'll see how we go. I really haven't done any good in the Playoffs before, so I've never made it to East Lake. It's a myth apparently to me. Apparently it's a nice golf course, but what would I know? I've never been there.

I think what's important to me is that I just go out and enjoy my golf and play well. If I play well and I move up, that's great, and if not, I really don't care, I'm going to go home to the family. Whatever happens this week is a win-win.

Q. The mindset this year with everything we've been through but also everything -- a couple of majors still in the fall, does that set you up differently for the Playoffs and how you look at them and how you mentally feel this week?

IAN POULTER: Not really. I mean, I really haven't done -- I said it a minute ago, I really haven't done any good in the Playoffs, so I'm looking at this that I've got a couple of days to kind of move up in that list and see what happens. I mean, I don't like unknowns, whether you're going to play the following week or whether you're going to play the following week. You can't plan for that stuff. So it's frustrating.

But it won't be frustrating if I'm there at the end of the week in contention and I move up significantly, then I'll have a different mindset about what it is.

You can play nice for four days and you can finish say 15th, and I'm going home, and I could play nice for four days and finish 14th and I could be going to Chicago. That's how fickle it is in these three tournaments, and you can just -- you can move up significantly and then you can also play well and go backwards.

Q. Big picture, when the PGA TOUR announced the new schedule in April or May, what were your honest expectations for what the season as a whole would look like?

IAN POULTER: From the date that we actually physically started?

Q. No, from when they released the schedule, this is what we're going to be doing when we restart. What were your honest expectations?

IAN POULTER: Zero expectations because I just think the unknowns that we all faced back then were -- well, the goal posts were changing every single day, right, so we didn't know whether we were going to get more cases or not, and I think the big picture looking back at it now is I think everyone has done incredibly well from a perspective of the traveling circus that we play in week in, week out where guys are going home and seeing family members and family members are obviously trying to stay as safe as possible, but you've got so many opportunities to get compromised with COVID, I think as a whole the TOUR has done an exceptional job. I think the players have respectfully done a great job. I think it's been all credit to not just players and caddies but all the staff, TV people, everybody that's done their bit to have a safe environment for us all to get back to work. It's important, right? We all have jobs out here. Ours is obviously on the golf course playing, but everyone else has a job, and it's a credit to everyone.

Q. There is an accountability aspect, too, with the players, right? You guys are incentivized to want to be out here, as well. Kind of the accountability, is that what you would chalk it up --

IAN POULTER: Everyone has done a great job. It would be easy for people to be out and dining and having lots of people around the house that I'm sure normally happens. I think everybody is taking it very seriously, and certainly after the first week or first couple of weeks where we had a couple of cases, it probably put the fear in everyone to make sure that this is -- it is real, we are in a pandemic, and we have to be super sensible. I think credit to everyone.

Q. Have you thought about what your schedule would look like after the U.S. Open?

IAN POULTER: Yeah, I mean, I've definitely thought about what my schedule will look like, but as of the other day, we just had a European Tour change of date for two events. Again, the landscape is still changing. I think the HSBC Champions event, I don't think that's on. I think there's possibly another event that's looking like it might take that place.

Right now I'm playing golf for this week, and it's very easy to sort of schedule a little bit nearer the time. I'll play U.S. Open, I'll go back to Europe and play Scottish Open and BMW PGA at Wentworth, and we just take it as we go.

Q. Any hesitation about flying over there? I know a couple of guys like Rory talked about how he doesn't want to necessarily fly overseas.

IAN POULTER: No, I mean, my caddie flew from the UK to get here, so I just -- again, as long as you're sensible and washing your hands and using hand sanitizer and you've got your face covering on and you can wipe your area down where you're going to sit, and I think the airlines are taking the right precautions, then I think the travel aspect is okay.

I mean, I'm flying, albeit, sharing a plane with a couple of guys coming here, still got to get through an FBO terminal, I still see people, I still see the pilots, I still see -- there are many places you can be compromised.

My life can't stop, put it this way, just because of the situation we're in, so I think we've just got to be sensible, and I'm happy to travel.