By CHRISTOPHER POWERS
Ian Poulter is no stranger to the shank, building a shank resume that rivals Webb Simpson’s (sorry, Webb). He’s hit them on some of biggest stages, including while in contention at the 2015 Honda Classic and the 2017 Players Championship. And who could forget when he hit one in front of the most unforgiving crowd of all at the 2018 Waste Management Phoenix Open. What’s most impressive about the shanks is how Poulter has bounced back from them, which, as any weekend shanker knows, is a seemingly impossible task.
On Thursday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Poulter did it again, hitting an all-time shank at the par-4 eighth hole at Bay Hill Club & Lodge. But this wasn’t just any shank, this one had literally everything. It had shot-tracer, the “show us your wingspan” two-armed look to the heavens and what is easily the loudest “FORE RIGHT” yell in the history of “FORE RIGHT” yells. Make sure your volume isn’t too high on this one:
This is art. You’d think a meteor was headed towards the Orlando crowd the way Poulter screamed. And who hasn’t utilised “I mean seriously?” in their golf career? It’s such a great way to sum up everything that’s wrong with what you just did. To be able to have such disgust for yourself is something we can all get behind. Kudos to Poults for continuing to come up with new, hilarious ways to hit and react to a shank. He was able to limit the damage, making a bogey 5 before parring the ninth hole, his 18th, to post a one-over 73.
UPDATE: Poulter has since clarified this wayward shot was not a shank, rather the end result of having mud on his ball:
