Ian Poulter faces a race against time to earn enough money to retain his playing rights on the 2016-2017 PGA Tour following a four-month injury lay-off.
The 40-year-old former Ryder Cup star has just eight tour events to earn just under $250,000 in order to move into a top 125 position on last season’s PGA Tour money list.
Poulter, who is currently playing the new PGA Tour season on a medical extension, picked up $101,500 after finishing tied 17th in his first event back, the CIMB Classic, but missed the cut by three shots at last week’s Sanderson Farms Championship after shooting rounds of 70 and 75.
When combined with the money he made in 13 starts before his injury break, he needs to earn approximately $246,000 in order to secure his card for the rest of the season.
The Woburn-attached professional missed four months of competition, including the chance to play an active role in last month’s Ryder Cup, after undergoing treatment for a longstanding arthritic condition in his right foot. He chose not to have surgery on the foot, and instead relied on rest and rehabilitation to get healthy enough to resume his playing career.
”I didn’t want to go down the surgery route,” said Poulter. “Arthritis is arthritis. It’s difficult to have surgery on that, but it’s all about the inflammation, trying to take that away. So it’s managing that and making sure I don’t overload the foot.”
He added: “My general rehabilitation involved lots of rest, some foot exercises, band work, and lots of layers of therapy to get rid of the inflammation. I didn’t want to continue taking anti-inflammatory pills, so I’ve been off of them for four months, and the body feels good and the foot feels good.”