On Thursday, it was revealed that both Lee Westwood and Richard Bland would be unable to make their debut appearances in the senior ranks, specifically at The Senior Open, with it being reported that both have had their applications turned down by The Senior Open Championship Committee Board.
Although Westwood is yet to comment, Bland has taken to social media to voice his disdain at the decision, with the Englishman posting a screenshot of the email to his Instagram account.
Bland, who was one of the players to give up his membership of the DP World Tour after various fines and sanctions were handed out following February's arbitration results announcement, also included the caption "and there's me thinking things had changed", with the Englishman eligible for the tournament after turning 50 in February.
Along with Bland, Westwood will also not feature in the event at Royal Porthcawl in July, despite the fact that, back in November, he revealed that he had been reportedly offered the chance to compete on the Legends Tour (formerly known as the European Senior Tour).
Westwood, who turned 50 back in April, would have been one of the star-attractions in Wales but, on Thursday, both received an email which read: "The committee has considered your application and is not willing to approve it, because you have outstanding fines imposed on you for breaching its conflicting tournament regulations.
"You will therefore be removed from the entry list and your entry fee will be refunded with immediate effect. We would remind you of the entry deadline of 12 noon (UK time) on 6 July 2023 should you intend to settle your outstanding fines and wish to re-enter by this deadline."
Following the news of the merger between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF, Keith Pelley, the DP World Tour CEO, made it clear that those who want to re-join the Tour must pay their fines first. However, these fines reportedly go into the hundreds of thousands with those players also needing to serve bans prior to that.
In Westwood's case, as the tweet below shows, he has no interest in re-joining the DP World Tour, with the 50-year-old stating on Twitter: "... Should I ever wish to join the @DPWorldTour again. Which I don’t , so I don’t have any outstanding fines. I’m not sure which fines the email relates to? It’s puzzling."
Good article James. Couple of inaccuracies. One being the size of the fines should I ever wish to join the @DPWorldTour again. Which I don’t , so I don’t have any outstanding fines 🤷🏽♂️. I’m not sure which fines the email relates to? It’s puzzling. @RandA ? https://t.co/TBwleUxTi3June 15, 2023
Like Bland, Westwood has also given up his membership and, consequently, that would be where the problem lies, as The Senior Open Championship is 50% owned by the DP World Tour. Because of the ownership, it's unlikely that we will see the English duo in the tournament, not until they settle their fines and re-join the DP World Tour, something which is unlikely to happen given the recent circumstances.
