Richard Bland (golfer)

Career

Bland was born in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. He turned professional in 1996 and reached the final stage of the European Tour's qualifying school in 1997 to gain his card on Europe's second tier Challenge Tour for 1998. In 2001 he won for the first time, at the season ending Challenge Tour Grand Final. The win elevated him in the rankings sufficiently to gain a place on the European Tour for 2002.

During his first season on the European Tour, Bland’s best tournament finish was a tie for 2nd place at the Murphy's Irish Open, losing in a playoff, and ended the year in 73rd place on the Order of Merit. In subsequent seasons, he failed to win enough money to maintain his card on the European Tour several times but regained his playing status each time, via the Challenge Tour rankings in 2004, 2008, and 2019, and via qualifying school in 2007 and 2011.

In May 2021, in his 478th start on the European Tour, Bland achieved his first victory at the Betfred British Masters. At age 48, he became the oldest first-time winner on the European Tour; only Malcolm MacKenzie, with 509, had played more tournaments before claiming his first win on the tour. In June 2021, Bland played in the U.S. Open for just the second time in his career. At 48 years old, he became the oldest player to ever hold a share of the lead of the U.S. Open after two rounds, however he fell back over the weekend to finish in a tie for 50th. With eight top-10 finishes during the 2021 European Tour season, Bland finished a career-best 11th place on the Race to Dubai rankings.

In January 2022, Bland finished as runner-up at the Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic, losing to Viktor Hovland in a playoff.

Being just outside the Top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking in March 2022, Bland looked to find form in order to qualify for the Masters Tournament. He won his group at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, halving with Bryson DeChambeau as well as beating Talor Gooch and Lee Westwood along the way. However, he was defeated in the last 16 by Dustin Johnson, ultimately just missing out on progressing to the Top 50. Bland made his full PGA Tour debut the following week at the Valero Texas Open, needing a victory to get into The Masters. He recorded a Top-30 finish, seeing him move to a highest ranking of 48th.

In June 2022, Bland joined the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational Series. He was subsequently subject to fines and suspension from the European Tour for playing without a conflicting event release. After those sanctions were upheld by an independent arbitrator, in May 2023, the European Tour announced that he had resigned his membership of the tour.

Senior career

In May 2023, Bland applied for entry to the 2023 Senior Open Championship, to be played in late July, for which he had fulfilled one exemption category as a former European Tour winner being at the exact age of 50 years at the time of the championship. However, Bland was denied entry due to outstanding fines to the European Tour, related to breaching conflicting tournament regulations.

In May 2024, Bland won his first senior major at the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship. In July 2024, he won his second senior major, defeating Hiroyuki Fujita in a playoff to win the U.S. Senior Open. In a quest to complete the "Bland Slam" (winning all senior majors in which he was eligible for), Bland was unable to enter The Senior Open Championship at the end of July at Carnoustie. Having not paid outstanding fines to the European Tour (DP World Tour), as the case in 2023, Bland was again denied entry to play.

Amateur wins

• 1994 European Under 21 Championship

Professional wins (4)

European Tour wins (1)

European Tour playoff record (1–2)

Challenge Tour wins (1)

PGA Tour Champions wins (2)

PGA Tour Champions playoff record (1–0)

Results in major championships

Results not in chronological order in 2020.

CUT = missed the half-way cut

"T" = tied

NT = no tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

Results in World Golf Championships

1Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play

"T" = Tied

NT = No tournament

Note that the Championship and Invitational were discontinued from 2022.

Senior major championships

Wins (2)

Results timeline

"T" indicates a tie for a place --

Team appearances

Amateur

• European Youths' Team Championship (representing England): 1994

References

References

1. Cleeks GC. (7 October 2024). "Another beauty from Dickie B".
2. Graham, Tim. (4 November 2001). "Italian Open: Roe secures final fling". [[The Daily Telegraph]].
3. Camenker, Jacob. (2021-06-19). "Who is Richard Bland? Meet the 48-year-old Englishman tied for the US Open lead".
4. (15 May 2021). "British Masters: Richard Bland claims first victory at 478th attempt after play-off at The Belfry".
5. (19 June 2021). "Richard Bland excites Torrey Pines to become oldest 36-hole leader in US Open history". Guardian.
6. Hart, Jay. (18 June 2021). "Richard Bland is leading the way at the U.S. Open ... wait, who?".
7. (20 June 2021). "U.S. Open - Leaderboard Thursday, June 17 - Sunday, June 20, 2021 San Diego, CA".
8. (23 December 2021). "Oscar Jacobson Congratulates Richard Bland On Career Best Season".
9. (30 January 2022). "Viktor Hovland Downs Richard Bland in Playoff to Win Dubai Desert Classic".
10. Hoggard, Rex. (26 March 2022). "Richard Bland's magical run at Match Play is over, but his Masters dreams aren't".
11. Cradock, Matt. (4 April 2022). "Richard Bland Moves Inside World's Top-50 For Very First Time".
12. Shreiber, Max. (18 May 2022). "Report: Richard Bland OK with possible ban by DP World Tour for playing LIV events".
13. (3 May 2023). "LIV Golf quartet, including Lee Westwood, resign as DP World Tour members". The Scotsman.
14. Cradock, Mike. (15 June 2023). "Lee Westwood And Richard Bland Denied Entry To Senior Open".
15. Chivers, Matt. (26 May 2024). "LIV Golf's Richard Bland wins Senior PGA Championship".
16. Lusk, Jason. (1 July 2024). "LIV's Richard Bland outlasts Hiroyuki Fujita in four-hole playoff at U.S. Senior Open".
17. Priest, Evin. (12 July 2024). "Sudden senior star Richard Bland caught in strange spot as LIV golfer, can't play in Senior British Open".
18. "EGA Events, Results, European Team Championships, European Youths' Team Championship". European Golf Association.