LIV Golf star Richard Bland is in agreement with his PGA Tour rivals, that the Tour's announcement to work with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia came as a shock.
The world of golf was rocked earlier this month, after the agreement between the PGA Tour and PIF was confirmed. The deal appears to have ended the dispute between the Tour and LIV Golf, with the two rivals set to work under one entity alongside the DP World Tour.
The announcement came as a shock to many, including those who play their golf on the PGA Tour, with a whole host admitting to have been none the wiser about the agreement until it was announced.
Most notably, chairman of the Tour's Player Advisory Council Adam Scott admitted he was 'left in the dark', commenting: "You can’t help but feel left in the dark even though I don’t expect to run the PGA Tour and them to run everything by me. It was just sooner than maybe anybody thought.
A similar point was echoed by world No. 2 Jon Rahm, who added: "We don't know anything. I don't know if the people in charge know much more than we do. There are so many unanswered questions that at this point I wouldn't want to waste time thinking about it because there is a lot of what ifs and unknowns."
Amid the uncertainty this is seemingly being reciprocated on the other side of the deal. This comes after LIV member Bland claimed he too was not expecting the announcement on June 6. He told National Club Golfer : "The announcement that came along a couple of weeks ago – it was a bit left field.
"I wasn’t expecting it. Things might just settle down, but they seem to have nailed us to the cross again." Amid the deal many have been quick to point the finger at PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley, who had spent the past 12 months criticising the LIV setup, before agreeing to joins forces.
Following the dramatic change, Bland believes Monahan's role could well be at risk. "Jay and Keith have got a lot to answer for and if I’m honest," he added. "I’d be surprised if Jay would be in a job very soon. He’s going to come under a lot of player scrutiny because there’s probably a lot of players in the US that turned down offers from LIV – he can’t make that decision for them but I’m sure he’s probably tried to persuade them to stay."
“And now, hang on a second, you’ve done a deal with them. We just have to wait and see – the funny thing is people are asking questions left right and centre and we don’t know.” Bland became one of a number of stars to resign his DP World Tour membership, after being sanctioned by the Wentworth-based circuit due to his LIV switch.
