Billy Foster remains a loyal stalwart of the European Tour after caddying for many of its best players over the years.
But the veteran bagman, who used to caddie for Seve Ballesteros and Lee Westwood, admits he has been saddened by the decline of the Tour, which no longer regularly fields the same plethora of household names these days.
He thinks the organization, now rebranded as the DP World Tour, may end up regretting shunning a potential alliance with Saudi Arabia and LIV Golf.
And he has criticized the Official Golf World Ranking, which he feels discriminate against the European Tour and lacks credibility as LIV players like Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Joaquin Niemann and Bryson DeChambeau now languish down the rankings as their breakaway series doesn”t get any points.
Yorkshireman Foster, speaking via CasinoAlpha.com, said: “I don’t know how the system works but it’s all biased towards America which is rubbish.
“The European Tour has been absolutely destroyed by it. It’s so difficult to build ranking points on the European Tour, all the points go to America.
“Out of Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Joaquin Niemann and Bryson DeChambeau, they’d all be top 15 in the world so absolutely the ranking system is a load of rubbish.”
Foster is one of the most recognized and well respected caddies in the world, having been on the bag for the likes of Westwood, Ballasteros, Sergio Garcia, Thomas Bjorn, Darren Clarke and now Matt Fitzpatrick, whom he won the 2022 US Open with.
Foster added: “People think that the European Tour should collaborate with LIV and you’d have a World Tour that would rival the PGA Tour but whether that ship’s sailed, I’m not sure.
“It could end up being a costly decision from the European Tour. I’ve been around it for 40 years, 20 years ago it was absolutely brilliant. It’s all such a shame.”
Billy Foster has even caddied for Tiger Woods
(Image credit: Getty Images)
In the meantime, Foster will be back on his day job on Fitzpatrick’s bag this week at Augusta where he expects Rory McIlroy, chasing the Grand Slam, to contend in the Masters.
He believes McIlroy is benefiting from concentrating on golf more than politics following LIV’s protracted row with the PGA Tour.
Foster said: “He’s still an unbelievable golfer and I don’t doubt his desire and he’ll be challenging at The Masters. Unfortunately, he’s been put in a s***** situation where he’s taken his eye off the ball and concentrating too much on politics instead of golf. It might be best for him to get on with his golf and leave the politics to other people.”
