Flashback: Poulter Mooching A Ride On Air Tiger

Since these two are playing tomorrow in the morning foursomes with Steve Stricker and Justin Rose along for the ride, I thought back to Derek Lawrenson's March item on Hank Haney's The Big Miss:

The Poulter tittle-tattle from Haney’s book, The Big Miss, dates back to before the 2007 US Open, when both played a practice round at Oakmont.

‘How are we getting home?’ asked Poulter of his Orlando neighbour, fully aware Woods had a private jet ready to go.

No invitation was forthcoming but Poulter showed up at the airport anyway, and got his ride home.

On the plane, Woods texted Haney: ‘Can you believe how this dick mooched a ride on my plane home?’

Rather sensibly, Poulter had no intention of getting involved when I caught up with him yesterday.

‘The book has nothing to do with me and I have no interest in commenting on it,’ he said.

Comments

[Manos]

Just like WW1 and WW2. They're beggars.

[dbh]

Yeesh, Manos, are you aiming to be named the 'Dullest Man in the World'?
It's time for some new material.

[BrianS]

Other than the part where he made Hank pay for all the delivery pizzas, this was probably the funniest story in the book. It so captures Tiger, sittting there, ticked off texting Hank, while Poults lounges about in Air Tiger.

[gov. lepetomane]

The term Woods used to characterize Poulter was charitable as far as I'm concerned . . . maybe bordering on complimentary.
I cannot wait to see Poulter hole a timely putt this week and pump his fist with that crazed, serial killer expression he gets. He's probably a pretty nice guy, but his facial expression seems to indicate anger, much like Sabbs.

[ol Harv]

Completely forgot about this whole hilarious incident....good call. While Poulter probably wants to act like it's no big deal, inside he has to be at least a little embarrassed and probably pissed at Tiger. I'm sure he would love to win this one. He still is, IMO, a little over-rated but his story is pretty cool.

[Iceberg Slim]

Manos,

I'm as big of a homer as the next guy. Americans or Euros that say they aren't rooting for one side or the other are tools or full of $hit in my opinion, but you are dead wrong.

The English were outmanned and outgunned in both of those wars by the Hun. Despite the disparity in manpower, natural resources, and equipment the English fought like hell. They aren't beggars at all and neither is Poulter. Poulter's move was a nut check and it appears that Tigger didn't have the nuts to tell him to buzz off.

[3foot1]

Not a big deal. Poulter has to take the diplomatic route and shut up, while Tiger -- if the question comes up -- can laugh it off publicly.

[BrianS]

@Manos - I shouldn't respond, but I will. Beggars ? Simply put, the British saved the World twice in 50 years. Here in the USA we balked and dithered while they died, both in the field and in their houses (in WW2). We in the US complain about casualties in Vietnam - Britain lost more in 2 days on the Somme than we did in 8 years in Nam, and they were all in even after 4 years of that. You are an embarrassment to any American, and as an American I can say that.

[fourputter]

Manos is obviously a complete idiot and not worth bothering about - why is he allowed to post to this site? -, but to gently correct Iceberg Slim it was the British from all over the world (not the "English") who resisted the Germans for a few years in WWII. WWI was a completely different set of circumstances. The real truth is that it was (more than anything) the efforts to subject Russia that bled Germany white in both wars and left it eventually too under-resourced to be able to halt the advances of the Allied forces.

[BrianS]

@fourputter - maybe you are right, but it is quite possible that the BEF's presence on the French left saved Paris, or at least enabled the French to regroup on the Marne. And the British Fleet's blockade against Germany played a huge role in draining their ability to sustain the war. Either way, they were certainly a key part, and the American contriibution, while timely and ultimately decisive, paled in comparison in terms of winning the war.

[Manos]

Pathetic. They are beggars and still haven't repaid their WWI debts. $225B and counting. This is a fact. It's amazing how brainwashed people are. "Oh they were soooo brave at the Somme" LOL

[Del the Funk]

BrianS, I find it funny that you find "Poults lounging about in Air Tiger" to be funny. You think what Poulter did was ok? Actually I'd say the takeaway from this is that Tiger handled it like a nice guy and let Poulter make the flight. If Tiger was really a prick he would have told him to take a hike. Let us know next time you have a reservation at Le Bernardin and we'll show up at your table and stick you with the bill....since you're cool with that type of behaviour and all.

Harv, the person Poulter needs to be mad at is Haney, not Tiger. Had Haney not written the book this story would never have come out.

[BrianS]

@Del - seeing the humor in it doesn't mean admiration for Poults or his basically rude behavior. The sheer gall of it on his part and then Tiger's passive aggressive reaction - how hard would it have been for him to tell Poults that they needed to stop of someone on the way, so maybe next time thank you ? So the discomfiture of a bully and his inability to do anything about it, that is what I found funny.

[Paboy]

Sounds like rich people problems.

[Press Agent]

Mooching a ride is a little off-side, whether it's on a plane or in a car or what have you - we all agree on that. However, the very idea that someone would begrudge another tour player a ride back home to the same city when the plane is already going there is pathetically selfish. Sure in this society where every car you see has one person in it, and it seems rich people get flown around one person to a plane (other than crew) where we all don't want to be near anyone else, it seems Poulter crossed some kind of line by mooching a ride, but it's disgusting that someone would be so entitled that they were truly bothered by this.

If one of you was playing a game of golf and happened to get setup with your neighbour who had his car while you got dropped of at the course or something, would probably ask the neighbour for a ride, and if that neighbour said no, there's lots of room, but I just don't want to give you a ride, you'd think there was something strange about that.

Manos: "In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory,[3]extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as a forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response[4] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion."

There's a 'relatively' (in internet time) old saying now, "Don't feed the trolls"

[fourputter]

@Brian S - your observations are spot on; I was just challenging the "the xxxs won the war(s)" claims by anyone as being far too simplistic.

And I'll take the opportunity to rebut the assertion that Britain owes the US a dime. All WWII loans were paid off in 2006 I believe; and they were all at commercial (if not crippling) rates of interest - no gifts. There are no outstanding WWI war loan repayments owed by any one country to another - a moratorium was signed in 1931 effectively rescinding them. Incidentally Britain was owed more by other countries than it itself owed when that moratorium was signed.

However as a Brit whose father landed on D-Day and was wounded a few days later to spend a year in hospital and the rest of his life with a painful limp I, and I'm sure every other Brit joins me, I'm grateful to the governments of the US, Canada, Australia and the other nations who made funds available to finance British and eventually the Allied resistance to tyranny in both wars. It doesn't bear imaging what the world would be like now if they hadn't.

As for the almost insane observation posted on the more that 1 million men of all nationalities who were lost or wounded in the period July - December 1916 on the Somme I will ask you, Geoff, to take appropriate action against the poster and his hate-filled inanities.

[Del the Funk]

Bully? Where do you get this stuff?

Come one P.A., you know comparing a ride down the block in the Taurus in no way relates to showing up unannounced and piling onto a Gulfstream. Especially after Tiger's non-response to Ian's initial inquiry made it clear that he was not welcome. Ian is clearly missing a chip - is it any wonder Tiger prefers not to travel with him? Furthermore, Tiger has a long track record of ferrying his buddies all over the world, remember McCarron once referring to Air Tiger. Tiger probably pays $20grand for a flight like that, sure seems like that 20 buys him the right to take along, or leave behind, anyone he likes?

It amazes me that Tiger somehow comes out looking like the bad guy in this situation....actually, given some of the imaginations in play here, no it doesn't ;)

[Ghillie]

Someone who can conclude a post about the Somme with "LOL" is beyond disgusting. It's obscene.

And Press Agent is on the money. Why on earth wouldn't someone flying an otherwise empty plane not offer a neighbour a lift? The carbon footprint of the PGA Tour is scandalous. But Tiger is not renowned for generosity of thought.

Should be an intense match.

[A3]

If tiger had any sense of being human he would have offered a ride and a damn cocktail.

[Pasaplayer]

Dick v. Prick?

[Stord]

The only amusing thing about these posts is that if somebody dares to criticise either Dan Jenkins or Gil Hanse, they're banned for life; whilst a completely blind eye is turned to Manos.

Sort if out Geoff.

[Manos]

Press Agent, I was having a bit of fun with the WWI and WW2 reference. I can't help it if the Brits have no sense of humor about themselves and go all Brick Tamland on me. They're inevitably the ones who hurl the invective, and even call for censorship and banning (so British). And it's a fact that they're moochers and continue to mooch off the U.S. taxpayer in the form of unpaid WWI debts (which were not canceled, to correct a lie posted above). Poulter should have taken the Fung Wah bus, sat in the back and been grateful.

[Tim in Hoylake]

Of course the British have a sense of humour, Manos. We're humouring the Americans by letting them think they can win. When reality dawns, we'll all have a good laugh. I think if you check your history, you'll find humour, irony and advertising all got their start in England, not America. Most of the funnier stuff coming out of North America in the last 30 years has been Canadian anyway... Dan Akcroyd, Mike Myers, Martin Short, Bill Murray, 2nd City, Kids in the Hall, Airplane...

[Manos]

Wow thanks for alerting us that the Zuckers (Airplane, Naked Gun) and Bill Murray are Canadian. You might want to fact check that one. As for Dan Akcroyd (sic), he's only been unintentionally funny for the last 25 years. But I agree that the Brits do have a grasp of irony. After all they call themselves "Great" don't they?

[Ghillie]

I imagine you will find that Tim was thinking of Leslie Neilson when he mentioned Airplane. He is, mercifully for Canada, incorrect about Bill Murray -- you lot can have him (he's about as funny as gastric fever).

What about what you call yourself? A very twisted reference to the sick and second-rate?

[Manos]

No. If I was channeling the sick and second-rate, I'd call myself "NHS."

[johnnnycz]

Manos...stop digging

My take on this plane thing is that yes Tiger is paying for the jet and has every right to take along whomever he wishes. In this case with 1) Poulter being a neighbor 2) The plane going in the same direction and 3) The cost of the flight being the same irregardless of how many golfers pile on board....there's no way Tiger doesn't come off as anything other than selfish by not offering a ride home. I would have Poulter on the plane and serve him all sorts of fancy drinks VIP style...and then hit him with the jet fuel bill.

The passive aggressive texting to Hank reminds me of a petulant child being forced to sit next to an old relative at Thanksgiving.

[digsouth]

Tiger should have offered, and Poulter should not have assumed. 2 overpaid assholes showing their colors.

[Pat Burke]

Should have texted Poulter
Can you believe this wanker Haney is taking notes on everything I do?