Ian Poulter is just glad to be back playing -- despite struggling to a two-over 74 in the first round of the BMW Masters on Thursday -- as he tries to put the Ted Bishop row and an injury-hit season behind him.
Former PGA of America president Bishop apologised this week for his "li'l girl" tweet about Poulter which got him fired a month before his term in office was due to end.
The English Ryder Cup star clearly considers the matter closed and wouldn't comment on the spat when approached by AFP.
"I'm here to play golf and that's what I'm focused on this week," he said before his opening round Thursday.
Poulter last week launched his autobiography "No Limits" in which his frank comments about Nick Faldo and Tom Watson's Ryder Cup captaincies prompted the offending tweet from Bishop.
"The book's been great," is all Poulter would say on the matter.
"It was a fun project. From the first days of talking about it two-and-a-bit years ago to coming round to it launching has been quite exciting.
"But now it's all about playing good golf for four weeks, turning the season around which has been a disappointment."
Poulter has suffered a succession of injuries which he put down to "gym, gym and more gym," and has plunged to 43rd in the world rankings from 12th at the end of 2013.
He damaged his shoulder working out at the start of the year, in May his back played up and he injured his wrist just before the British Open.
As if that was not enough, he bizarrely suffered a horsefly bite before the Bridgestone Invitational in August that put him in hospital.
But he believes that the European Tour's "Final Four" series of big money tournaments gives him a chance to salvage something from a season in which his only real highlight was once again being an integral part of a winning European Ryder Cup team.
"I'm fit and healthy. I feel good and I'm looking forward obviously to four good weeks," Poulter told AFP. "The niggles have cleared up."
Poulter has an outstanding record at this time of year in China having won the 2012 WGC-HSBC Champions event in Shenzhen and the 2010 Hong Kong Open.
He finished fourth in the 2012 BMW Masters and was runner-up to Dustin Johnson in the WGC-HSBC Champions across the city at Sheshan a year ago.
"It's been good in China the last few years so I'm hoping there's more of that to come," he said, adding that he has plenty of gas left in the tank.
"To be honest I don't feel like I've played an awful lot," he said.
"Playing golf is the easy part it's the practising away from the golf course that tires you out. And I haven't done a lot of that because I've had the injuries."
Source: AFP
