Golf star Ian Poulter made this big life change to improve his game

Brian Sozzi
·Executive Editor

To get back into the peak form what has led to 15 wins around the world during a colorful 24-year pro career, golf star Ian Poulter knew he had to make some life changes... and fast.

Poulter credits his comeback in 2019 to reassessing his life and taking action to weed out distractions. “I simplified life and made things easier,” Poulter told Yahoo Finance on the sidelines of this week’s kickoff to the race for the FedEx Cup at Liberty National Golf Club in New Jersey.

Words to live by.

One big decision Poulter, 43, made along those lines was to shutter his apparel business midway through 2017. For 10 years, Poulter made and designed his own line of clothing under the IJP Design label. Poulter was truly following a passion here: his mother managed a clothing store and he sold clothing at a London shop before turning pro.

But after years of trying to make things work, Poulter tossed in the towel and decided to re-dedicate to golf. That looks to have been the right call.

Poulter, known for challenging rowdy fans on the course and his 2.3 million strong Twitter following, has climbed back to No. 35 in the world golf rankings. He had fallen to as low as No. 207 amidst his two-year or so slump. Poulter has notched five top 10 finishes this year.

He entered this week’s Northern Trust Open in 60th place in the FedEx Cup rankings. Poulter finds himself sitting in 34th place after one round of the tournament, six shots behind leader Troy Merritt.

Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and co-host of The First Trade at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @BrianSozzi

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