Richard Bland has said he doesn’t think LIV Golf will be disbanded following the PGA Tour’s deal with the Public Investment Fund that finances the circuit.
Bland has been with LIV Golf since the outset, but its future has been cast into doubt in recent days, with one of the key figures in brokering the deal, PGA Tour policy board member Jimmy Dunne, saying that if PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan 'wants to disband LIV, he can.'
Monahan will be the CEO of the new entity that will see the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and the PIF join forces. However, PIF’s Yasir Al-Rumayyan will be its chairman, with the Saudis expected to fund it.
Bland is convinced it won’t be Monahan who gets to decide if LIV has a future, though. In an interview published by popular Twitter fan account Flushing It, he said: “I feel that’s the PGA Tour just posturing a little, flexing their muscles to show that ‘we are the boss’, but we all know that Yasir’s going to be the boss. Where’s the money going to come from? That’s usually the boss man, and that’s going to be Yasir.
"Jimmy Dunne was quoted as saying if Jay wants to disband LIV, he can. I don’t believe that for a second. I think Yasir’s invested too much time, too much money in it to go, ‘Yeah, OK, if that’s what you want to do, then that’s what we’ll do.’"
I had a long conversation with Richard Bland earlier about the current state of professional golf. It was cool to hear directly from a LIV players point of view. We covered everything LIV, DPWT, fines, suspensions, Ryder Cup, Keith Pelley etc. please have a listen 👍 pic.twitter.com/DQsS2xjeb4June 10, 2023
Bland also explained LIV Golf’s emphasis on its team aspect would be too big a barrier. Increasing importance has been placed on growing franchises for its 12 teams in recent months, and Bland thinks it’s gone too far for that to go by the wayside.
He said: “I don’t believe that the team principles would allow that to happen either. Like, Bryson, Brooks, DJ, those kind of guys, they’ve invested too much time as well to go, ‘OK, fine, you’re running our tour,’ I don’t see it personally.”
Following the announcement, Monahan outlined the deal to the media, and said: "What is in place is a commitment to make a good-faith effort to look at team golf and the role it can play going forward.”
However, he also explained he didn’t see the possibility of LIV-branded tournaments running concurrently with the PGA Tour next year. He said: “I can't see that scenario, but I haven't gotten into the full evaluation, full empirical evaluation of LIV that I'm going to do to be able to comment on that. But I don't see that scenario, no.”
Still, Bland reiterated his stance that disbanding LIV Golf is a non-starter. He said: “We all know how the world works at the end of the day. Who writes the cheques? I’ve spoken to Yasir a few times. He seems, from what I know of him, a really good guy and I just don’t think he’s going to let LIV just kind of get broken up and thrown to the side just like that.”
Dunne has also said suspensions would be imposed on LIV players wishing to return to the PGA Tour. However, that’s another area Bland thinks would be problematic given the limited options it would leave players to ply their trade.
He said: “How can you say to DJ and Brooks: 'Sorry mate, you’ve got nowhere to play?' You can’t tell those guys you’ve got nowhere to play. This whole thing that Jimmy Dunne has been putting through the media, I just don’t think it holds water.”
