{"id":660680,"date":"2026-05-09T22:44:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T22:44:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/660680\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T22:44:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T22:44:24","slug":"richard-bland-wont-be-headed-to-champions-tour-if-liv-golf-folds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/660680\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Bland won’t be headed to Champions Tour if LIV Golf folds"},"content":{"rendered":"

LIV Golf\u2019s future is in doubt,<\/a> but 53-year-old Richard Bland knows one thing about where his professional career is headed next \u2014 it won\u2019t be on the PGA Tour Champions. <\/p>\n

Bland, who won the Senior PGA Championship and U.S. Senior Open in 2024, said on Friday at LIV Golf Virginia that he can see the end of his playing days coming. While former LIV members Pat Perez<\/a> and Henrik Stenson<\/a> have opted to serve a one-year suspension before teeing it up on the PGA Tour\u2019s senior circuit, Bland won\u2019t be following in his former LIV-mates footsteps. <\/p>\n

\u201cFrom what I\u2019ve been told, I\u2019m not hugely welcome there,\u201d Bland said on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t given the exemption. I\u2019m the only senior major champion never to get that exemption, and that\u2019s fine, I don\u2019t have an issue with that,\u201d Bland said. \u201cI think the Champions Tour have made it pretty now impossible for anybody to come and play. I\u2019m not going to go chasing it. I\u2019ll be 54 years old, but I\u2019m going to be banned for a year anyway.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Senior PGA Championship and U.S. Senior Open are run by the PGA of America and the USGA, respectively, while the PGA Tour operates PGA Tour Champions.<\/p>\n

LIV Golf is in uncharted waters after the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund announced that it will withdraw its financial backing<\/a> for the league after the 2026 season. LIV Golf CEO Scott O\u2019Neil is working <\/a>to secure outside investment\u00a0<\/a>to keep the league running beyond this season. <\/p>\n

For Bland, either way, he knows the end of his professional days is near. That\u2019s something he has made peace with. <\/p>\n

\u201cI know it\u2019s coming quite soon,\u201d Bland said of retirement. \u201cI kind of earmarked next year would probably be my last year of playing full-time, as I do right now. Then going forward, really kind of scattered, but play where I want to play. For me right now, I\u2019m 53. For me, the travel is the hard bit. \u2026 That\u2019s been the hard thing for me, is recovery, getting ready for tournaments.<\/p>\n

Bland turned pro in 1996 and became the DP World Tour\u2019s oldest first-time winner when he captured the Betfred British Masters in 2021. He jumped to LIV Golf during its inaugural season in 2022 and that, at the moment, will be the final chapter of his professional career. He doesn\u2019t feel the need to try to extend it on a senior circuit. <\/p>\n

\u201cSemi-retirement, it\u2019s getting a lot nearer \u2014 and that\u2019s fine,\u201d Bland said. \u201cI\u2019m okay with that. I\u2019ve had one helluva ride out here and the best decision I ever made.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LIV Golf\u2019s future is in doubt, but 53-year-old Richard Bland knows one thing about where his professional career…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":660681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":["post-660680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}