Richard Bland ended a long wait for his first European Tour victory when he won the Betfred British Masters hosted by Danny Willett on his 478th start, defeating Italy’s Guido Migliozzi in a play-off, and in the process rocketing up 82 places on the European Points List
The European Ryder Cup points race entered a new phase last week, with every point earned on both the European and World lists now worth double, meaning the Englishman’s emotional victory at the Belfry took him into 20th position on 1,438.13 points.
A closing birdie on his 72nd hole saw Bland card a final round 66 and make the play-off with Migliozzi, who was just 18 months old when 48-year-old Bland made his European Tour debut.
And when the Italian- who already has two European Tour wins to his name - three putted the last, a par was enough to end a long, long wait for a maiden title.
Migliozzi moved up 17 places to 13th position on the European Points List with his runner-up finish, on 1,846.22 points.
Should the 24-year-old continue this form and make his way into Pádraig Harrington’s European team at Whistling Straits, he would become the fourth player from Italy to do so after Costantino Rocca (1993, 1995 and 1997), Edoardo Molinari (2010) and Francesco Molinari (2010, 2012 and 2018).
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Betfred British Masters tournament host and 2016 Ryder Cup player Willett also moved up one place and into ninth on the European Points List with 2,272.39 points after his tied 11th finish.
In addition, he moved up one place on the World Points List, where 120.46 points sees the 2016 Masters Tournament champion sit in 11th position.
Meanwhile on the PGA TOUR, Harrington’s Vice Captain Luke Donald had the best of the European results, finishing in a tie for 13th at the AT&T Byron Nelson after rounds of 65-73-66-67.
As it stands Tommy Fleetwood (4,911.26 points), Jon Rahm (4,823.60 points), Tyrrell Hatton (4,726.56 points) and Rory McIlroy (3,885.19 points) fill the automatic places on the European Points List.
Viktor Hovland (233.10 points), Lee Westwood (223.98 points), Matthew Fitzpatrick (189.96 points), Victor Perez (187.37 points) and Paul Casey (181.31 points) currently occupy the World Points List spots.
