Pro Golf – European Tour
In an inspirational story of never giving up, 48-year-old English professional golfer Richard Bland recorded his first ever European Tour victory after over 25 years on tour at the US$ 2.2mn British Masters in England.
Bland turned pro back in 1996, just before Tiger Woods burst onto the scene, and had to go through a few editions of the European Tour qualifying when he lost his playing status occasionally. He also competed on the secondary Challenge Tour in Europe from time to time, where he won his first professional title way back in 2001. At 48, Bland, unsurprisingly has become the oldest first time winner on the European Tour and goes to prove what a great sport golf is. You can have a 20 year old and 48 year old win in successive weeks.
Bland has racked up just over 5.8 million Euro in career earnings in Europe with his best year coming in 2016, when he finished 26th rank on tour with over 1.2 Million Euro in earnings.
As a reference, India’s Jeev Milkha Singh has played 383 Tournaments on the European Tour and racked up over 6.8 million in earnings, not counting his career earnings on the Japan and PGA Tours.