[PHOTO: Brennan Asplen]

Count Richard Bland as one long-time (and now former) member of the DP World Tour who is not exactly a big fan of the November 2020 “strategic alliance” the ex-chief executive of the former European Tour, Keith Pelley, brokered with the PGA Tour. In an outspoken press conference on the eve of the Asian Tour’s International Series–England tournament at Foxhills Country Club just outside London, Bland, recent winner of the Senior PGA Championship and US Senior Open, left no doubt as to the depth and extent of his feelings.

In particular, Bland, who famously recorded the first win of his then uneventful European/DP World Tour career at the 478th attempt before defecting to LIV Golf, took aim at the annual agreement that sees the top 10 players on the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai points list who don’t already own PGA Tour cards gain exemption for the next season across the Atlantic.

“I think getting into bed with the Americans was completely the wrong idea,” said Bland to Golf Digest, minutes after his initial outburst. “Does anyone honestly think [PGA Tour commissioner] Jay Monahan cares about the DP World Tour? No, he doesn’t. For him that ’10-player’ deal was all about how he could get the best DP World Tour players competing on the PGA Tour. [The PGA Tour] don’t care about the DP World Tour. They never have.”

Bland wasn’t finished there. Along with a significant number of those who remain members of the DP World Tour, the 51-year-old Englishman takes the view that Pelley should have gone with the “Saudi option” and bet on a DP World Tour future that involved a proposed financial agreement with the oil-rich Middle East nation’s Public Investment Fund, which has estimated assets of $US925 billion, rather than the eventual partnership with the PGA Tour.

“Let’s face it, anyone who knows anything about world golf knows that the DP World Tour made the wrong decision three, four years ago when they had the opportunity to go with the Saudis,” Bland said. “I think most of the players have realised that.”

Because of Bland’s defection to LIV Golf, he is ineligible to play on the PGA Tour or the PGA Tour Champions, despite the fact he would have earned a tour card based on his victories at two of this year’s senior majors.

Earlier, Bland had been equally forthright when the recent changes to the European Ryder Cup qualifying system were brought to his attention. Calling the emphasis on performances in major championships (where 5,000 points will be available) and elite PGA Tour events (3,000 points), “just like another nail in the coffin of the DP World Tour,” he was again off and running.

“It’s sad,” Bland said. “I understand that the strength plays in America, but this just basically says that no one playing full time DP World can play in the Ryder Cup. You can’t make it. Obviously, the world rankings have gone that way and now the Ryder Cup has gone that way.”

(For the record, 2,000 points will be available at DP World Tour Rolex events and regular PGA Tour events; 1500 at DP World Tour “back nine” events and 1,000 at DP World Tour global events and PGA Tour opposite events.)

For the 2025 European team, the top six points earners will qualify to play at Bethpage, with Luke Donald then having six picks to round out the squad.

Even then, he wasn’t finished. Next on the Bland hit-list was the Presidents Cup, specifically the omission of New Zealander Ryan Fox (then not a PGA Tour member) from the 2022 International team.

“When you get someone like Foxy who was second on the DP World Tour two years ago, and he can’t play,” said Bland. “I mean, really? It seems like it’s just a PGA Tour event. And the Ryder Cup is now just a PGA Tour event. It doesn’t say much for the guys that are up-and-coming in the game. You’ve only got to look at the world rankings, how many guys from the DP World Tour are in the top 100 in the world? Maybe two? So yeah, I think this is a sad day for the DP World Tour, if I’m being honest.”