Ian Poulter Interview
Monday, March 30th, 2009by Jason Sobel from ESPN:
As I walked with Ian Poulter through the pro shop at Doral Golf Resort & Spa last week in advance of this interview, and as we passed huge quantities of sleek, bright-colored garb from the spring line of his Ian Poulter Design company, I felt compelled to ask the man one question: “Do you need a cool waiver to wear these clothes?”
He looked puzzled, so I explained that it ought to be like a loan application at a bank; you show your qualifications and either get approved or denied. I mean, let’s face it: Some people simply can’t pull off a lavender sweater or orange tartan slacks. Wouldn’t that reflect poorly on his company?
“No, no, no,” he said with a laugh. “These clothes are for everybody.”
Once we sat down, Poulter had plenty more to say about the clothing line, showing off more personality in golf and even his controversial comments of last year.
Q: Talk to me about fashion, clothing, design. How did this all start?
A: This all started way back. I just looked at an old picture from when I was 5; I had a little pink shirt on and a grey skinny tie and I’m like, “There you go!” And I turned out to be a golf fan, started playing a lot of golf, and I watched Payne Stewart and guys who I associated with who had personalities. I think a lot of people would say the same. They drew attention and they created a buzz around themselves. They were the guys I could relate to. It kind of got me in the mindset of one day I want to be doing that and I want to be doing my own line.
And then I had an opportunity three-and-a-half years ago to move to Cobra golf equipment, which allowed me to free up my clothing. As soon as I could possibly do that, it was like, “Alright, let’s kick the dream off. Let’s have some fun.” We built a team back home in the U.K. who could design, run the business and get it to where we are today, which is now a global brand, 22 countries-plus, good distribution networks and we’re having fun. And I think that’s what’s real nice — to have people passionate about the brand and people who want to push it as far as it can possibly go, because the boundaries are endless and I’d like to try and find them.
Q: Being interested in clothing and wanting to start your own company are two different things. How did that crossover happen?
A: I’ve always liked shopping and it was only until a few years ago that I could afford to go out and shop properly [laughs]. So that bit being fashion and then obviously the business brain kicking in, thinking, “What do I want to do in 15-20 years time?” You know, I want to look back on a good career and say I’ve done the best I can on the golf course, but also off the golf course I’ve had a successful business and a brand that we had fun with and could take it to many different countries.
Q: You mentioned Payne Stewart being an influence, but I’m guessing a 5-year-old kid doesn’t just go out and buy his own pink shirt and grey tie. I assume your parents had some say about that?
A: My parents were in there. My dad’s always been a fairly snappy dresser. He now doesn’t buy any clothes; he just goes into my wardrobe, because he’s the same build as me! Yeah, so he always wanted to look good. My mom used to work in fashion. She used to run a retail store, so kind of the color coordination thing came from her and being able to go out and shop came from my dad.
Q: Do you ever worry that people look at you more as a fashion plate and less as a golfer?
A: No, that question has been asked plenty of times. And when you step up to the plate at the British Open last year and you go play as well as you played at the Ryder Cup, I guess that kind of answers that question. I know I can perform on the golf course; I wouldn’t be in the top-50 in the world if I couldn’t. It’s a hard place to maintain your status and I’ve been in there for a few years, so I can mix it with the best of players.
Q: Do you think you’re more popular worldwide because you’re not just out there in a blue shirt and khaki pants every day?
A: Of course. I mean, if you look at the global fan base that we have, I’m recognizable. I think that’s how, when I was a kid, you knew Payne Stewart, you knew Seve [Ballesteros], you knew John Daly, you knew Jesper Parnevik. You knew the guys you could quickly associate with straight away, because they were different. They weren’t the khaki; they were very, very different and they expressed themselves on the golf course. That’s what I do.
Q: How important is it for the sport to have these different personalities?
A: You have to have characters in any kind of sport. I mean, look at tennis a few years ago with [John] McEnroe and them. Everybody knows McEnroe because he’s McEnroe. And that’s important. I mean, you can go through all sports and pick out individuals, people who do good for the game, which creates awareness for kids to get in and play golf, because it’s a great game. It’s a great sport. It certainly occupies a lot of time, and that’s certainly good for a lot of kids to be occupied for a lot of time when they’ve got so much of it on their hands. And who knows? They could turn out to be the future of golf.
Q: That said, are there too many robotic guys out there on tour? Is there a way to get more personality out of guys who don’t have that in their nature?
A: No, because if that’s who they are, that’s who they are. You’re trying to turn somebody into something they’re not and that’s a bad thing. But every now and then, you get a group of guys who have their own identity and their own personality and can express it in a normal way as opposed to doing it the wrong way. So I just think it’s not everybody’s cup of tea to be slightly outlandish and have their own flair. But we all need more. The sport in general all needs more. But I think it’s been nice and refreshing in the past five years to see guys dressing different. How about Phil Mickelson wearing a white belt? I mean, where’s that come from? You’d never imagine that, would you?
Q: He hasn’t ruined white belts for the rest of you?
A: No, I might have to turn away from him for a little while [laughs]. But guys taking time to think about what they’re wearing, that didn’t happen five years ago. I know that. I was out here looking. You could look up and down the range and see a blend of colors that all mixed; they all wore the same. You could go khaki, navy, grey or black trousers — that was it. That was as outlandish as it ever got. You look now and guys are wearing color and they’re color coordinated in their accessories — shoes, belts and hats. That didn’t happen before. So on a good note, it’s changing and players are thinking, “Hmm, that doesn’t go with that.” They’re not just sticking their hand in the drawer and picking out a shirt or a pair of trousers that don’t match.
Q: If Colin Montgomerie calls you today and says, “I need help picking out the wardrobes for the Ryder Cup team next year,” what do you tell him?
A: Yeah, I mean, I would love to. Of course. Anybody would love to do it.
Q: What would you pick for the team?
A: Well, I think you’d have to look at the potential players on the team, obviously, because you wouldn’t want to put somebody in something they’re not comfortable. So that would be the first priority, to look at that and think, “Could that potential person be comfortable wearing this?” I think personally I’d brighten up the colors more than they’ve been the last few years. Obviously, Colin being Scottish, I think you’d have to put some kind of tartan flair in there, because that would be very, very apt. And that would go right with our storyline. So there are a number of things that I would suggest.
Q: Are you still hearing anything about the comments you made last year? (“The trouble is I don’t rate anyone else,” he was quoted as saying in the March 2008 issue of the United Kingdom version of Golf World magazine. “Don’t get me wrong, I really respect every professional golfer, but I know I haven’t played to my full potential and when that happens, it will be just me and Tiger.”)
A: Nope, that’s all fishpaper.
Q: Rough go for you for a little while having to deal with it?
A: Probably a few months. The same question kept coming up and obviously it was people saying it tongue-in-cheek. You know, it’s water off a duck’s back, to be honest with you. It gets boring after a while when people keep talking about it, but I guess when you step up and show that you’re not, as one paper said, “all mouth and trousers,” if you step up and deliver, then all of that kind of goes away.
My anniversary is on Friday, May 13th!
