Richard Bland during the first round of the 2024 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship. | Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images
Richard Bland, who now plays on LIV Golf, is playing well in his first Senior PGA Championship at Harbor Shores in Michigan.
Richard Bland has lurked on major championship leaderboards before.
He held a piece of the 36-hole lead at the 2021 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, where he became the oldest player ever to have a share of the U.S. Open lead through two rounds. He was 48 years old at the time, making just his fourth start in a major championship. He then struggled over the weekend, as Jon Rahm went on to win.
But since then, the Englishman has jumped to LIV Golf, producing mixed results. He has not won on the Saudi-backed circuit but has recorded five top-10 finishes.
He also rescinded his DP World Tour membership and, consequently, cannot compete on the European Legends Tour—the circuit for European players 50 and older.
Yet, Bland, now 52, received a special invite from the PGA of America to compete at this week’s Senior PGA Championship.
“I got invited last year. Completely out of the blue. I wasn’t expecting it. I got an e-mail from Bob Jeffrey [from the PGA of America]. Unfortunately, I couldn’t play it. Clashed with a LIV event,” Bland explained.
Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images
Richard Bland watches a putt during the first round of the 2024 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship.
“When I looked at the schedule this year, I saw that it was a free week, so I reached out and said, look, I appreciated the gesture for the invite. If it could be run to this year I would love to come play. And Bob came straight back and said, ‘We would love to have you,’ so here I am.”
Bland has taken full advantage of the opportunity, in what is his first official senior event.
He shot a 7-under 64 on Thursday, a round that included five birdies and an eagle on the par-5 15th.
“It’s nice to start the senior career with 7-under. Yeah, very happy with the way I played,” Bland said.
“Still a long way to go. We’re all here, we’ve all been around the block enough. All it is is a good start.”
He then continued to play well on Friday, as he sits atop the leaderboard at 11-under through 12 holes as of this writing.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
