Ian Poulter’s Son Dislocates Knee While Playing Junior Tournament

Luke Poulter dislocated his left knee while making a birdie on his final hole of the first day at the Dye Junior Invitational

Ian Poulter’s Son Dislocates Knee While Playing Junior Tournament

Luke Poulter dislocated his left knee while making a birdie on his final hole of the first day at the Dye Junior Invitational

Ian Poulter’s Son Dislocates Knee While Playing Junior Tournament

In a bizarre turn of events at the Dye Junior Invitational at Crooked Stick, Ian Poulter’s son Luke suffered a nasty injury while birdieing his 36th and final hole of the opening day. 

After struggling through his first nine holes in eight-over, Luke showed some of the fighting spirit that has been such a trademark of his dad’s career to battle back into contention heading to the par-5 9th - his closer.

But then disaster struck. 

As the teenager watched his eagle attempt agonisingly slide by the cup, he fell to the ground and, quite unbelievably, dislocated his left knee. 

Luckily, paramedics were quickly on hand to reposition the knee before Luke tapped in for his closing birdie to complete his final 27 holes of the day in seven-under and without a single dropped shot.

And dad Ian shared a video to his Instagram and Twitter accounts of Luke, understandably in pain, finishing his round as evening fell in Indianapolis. 

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Such was Luke’s fightback that he recovered from languishing near the bottom of the pack to sit within two of the lead with one round to go on the Pete and Alice Dye-designed layout.

A further update from Poulter Senior revealed that Luke's condition had improved marginally overnight and that the budding junior was eager to give it a go in the final round shoot-out. 

“A night’s rest, elevated leg and knee compression and lots of ice,” Ian shared in an Instagram post. “@lukepoults24 is walking OK and can squat cautiously.

“He really wants to give it a go today. Doctors have given him the OK to try so let’s see how he goes.

“Any concerns or issues and thoughts of not being able to commit 100% and he will come off. I love the fight and determination to never give in.”

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree it seems. To his immense credit, Luke did soldier on and complete the tournament, finishing five-over in total to secure a top-10.

Andrew Wright
Staff Writer

A lifelong golf fan, Andy graduated in 2019 with a degree in Sports Journalism and got his first role in the industry as the Instruction Editor for National Club Golfer. From there, he went on to enjoy a spell freelancing for Stats Perform producing football reports, and then for RacingNews365 covering Formula 1. However, he couldn't turn down the opportunity to get back into the sport he grew up watching and playing and now covers a mixture of equipment, instruction and news for Golf Monthly's website and print title.


Andy took up the game at the age of seven and even harboured ambitions of a career in the professional ranks for a spell. That didn’t pan out, but he still enjoys his weekend golf at Royal Troon and holds a scratch handicap. As a side note, he's made five holes-in-one and could quite possibly be Retief Goosen’s biggest fan.


As well as the above, some of Andy's work has featured on websites such as goal.com, dailyrecord.co.uk, and theopen.com.


What's in Andy's bag?

Driver: Callaway Mavrik Sub-Zero (9°)

3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus (15°)

Driving iron: Titleist U500 (17°)

Irons: Callaway Apex Pro '19 (4-PW)

Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM9 (50°, 54° and 58°)

Putter: TaylorMade Spider X

Ball: TaylorMade TP5x