Richard Bland admits no desire to play on DP World Tour after LIV Golf collapse
Richard Bland admits no desire to play on DP World Tour after LIV Golf collapse
Sam Frost Sat, November 7, 2026 at 12:34 PM UTC
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Bland was among a handful of players who publicly committed to LIV 2.0 (Image: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
Richard Bland has acknowledged he was "surprised" by the breakdown of LIV Golf's rescue agreement, having been among the limited number of players to openly commit to a revamped version of the breakaway circuit.
The 53-year-old Englishman was part of a small group of members who promised their allegiance to "LIV 2.0," but the league's relaunch prospects are virtually extinguished. LIV entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September following its abandonment by financial backer, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), and the league had secured a $300 million bailout agreement with private equity and credit firm BC Partners.
That agreement fell apart this week after LIV couldn't obtain commitments from marquee players, prompting BC Partners to withdraw. Bryson DeChambeau, Cam Smith and Dustin Johnson were among interested players who ultimately didn't sign on.
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A hearing in New Jersey on Thursday confirmed that LIV was shifting toward liquidation. The league's future is effectively over, unless an investor provides substantial funding before liquidation is completed, an exceptionally unlikely scenario.
Bland, a Cleeks team member, had been optimistic that LIV 2.0 would launch, and he was taken aback when reports of BC Partners' exit emerged online, reports the Mirror US.
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Richard Bland learned of LIV Golf's demise on social media (Image: Yu Chun Christopher Wong/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)
"Yeah, I was surprised," Bland told The Scotsman. "I read it for the first time on social media when I woke up. Yeah, I wasn't expecting that. Everything I was aware of was positive and it looked like it was going to move forward. So, yeah, to wake up to that was not what I was expecting."
Bland, a two-time senior major champion, has earned almost $20 million since joining LIV as a founding member in 2022, affording him considerable time to weigh his choices.
However, he made it clear that he is "done chasing the game," and a return to the DP World Tour is not something he's considering. He went on to say: "Obviously it has left me a little bit up in the air. I don't really have a huge amount of options outside of LIV.
"Obviously I can come and play on [the European Legends Tour] if I want to. Right now the [PGA Tour Champions] is a pretty closed shop, so I can really do anything there for another nine months or so and, even then, I don't know what I would have. Not much from what I've heard. We'll just have to wait and see.
"But I think it is going to be a much-reduced schedule for me going forward. That's OK. I'm not much bothered, to be honest, as I'm in a fortunate position where I can wait and see what happens. I'll maybe play a little bit in Asia, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it next year.
"I've kind of closed the book on the DP World Tour, and that's fine; I've dealt with that. I've got no desire to go back there and play full time."
Source: “AOL Money”
