Having secured a spot in the Senior PGA Championship via a one-time exemption granted to players who have turned 50 and who have won a DP World Tour event in the last five years, Richard Bland took full advantage as he claimed a stunning victory.
The LIV Golfer had led the tournament at the halfway stage following rounds of 64 and 66, but a three-over-par third round of 74 dropped Bland down the leaderboard and one shot back of overnight leaders Ernie Els and Greg Chalmers going into Sunday.
Looking for a hot start, Bland found back-to-back birdies at the first and second, with a bogey at the third putting him one-under for the day. A par then followed at the fourth, as Bland seemed to ignite midway through the front nine!
Making back-to-back birdies at the fifth and sixth, he repeated the feat at the eighth and ninth holes to turn in a five-under 31. Despite his excellent play, though, the LIV golfer still wasn’t at the top, with Bland forced to push on as he battled it out with Australian, Chalmers.
Trailing by one, he made further gains at the 10th and 12th, before a bogey at the 13th still meant he was one back! However, that was all about to change at the par 5 15th, as Bland put his approach to eight-feet and rolled it in for an eagle that jumped him from one back to one ahead.
Momentum was firmly on the 51-year-old’s side but, with three holes remaining, the tournament was hit by yet another delay due to dangerous weather, as an hour intervention meant players returned to the course at 3.40pm local time.
Although the break was lengthy, Bland returned to safely par the final three holes and, with Chalmers finishing with three bogeys, the LIV Golfer claimed a three shot victory over Richard Green, who had set a 14-under-par clubhouse target much earlier.
Carding an eight-under-par final round 63, the win is his first since the historic 2021 British Masters victory, with Bland heading into LIV Golf Houston in a fortnight’s time with some excellent momentum!
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