British LIV Golf star Richard Bland claimed top spot and a whopping £500,000 prize for winning his first senior event and just the second major title of his career. The 51-year-old competed in the Senior PGA Championship for the first time and commemorated it with a winning round of 63 to finish 17-under total.
Bland, who joined LIV Golf in 2022 after becoming the oldest first-time winner on the DP World Tour, took to the PGA event for the first time after a previous conflict with LIV saw him turn down last year’s edition.
Defending champion Steve Stricker finished eighth on 10 under, with Bland finishing three strokes clear of second-placed Richard Green of Australia. A delay due to storms saw Bland come out to par his final three holes which secured an emotional victory, before bursting into tears during the trophy presentation.
Bland had his brother Heath in mind during celebrations. He was diagnosed with stomach cancer just over a year ago and last week learned that he had cancer in the lungs. “I just wanted to win for him so bad,” said Bland. “This trophy isn’t mine, it’s his.”
He then added: “The British Masters was very special at 48. This is right up there. I couldn’t be happier. I’m going to celebrate the hell out of this one. This is my first event. I was interested to see if I brought my game how it would stack up against these guys. Thankfully, it does.”
At 46, Bland had been relegated from the DP World Tour to the Challenger Tour, but in a few short years he tripled a PGA senior salary with his big-money move to Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund-backed LIV Golf.
He was part of the inaugural Invitational Series in June 2022 and was subsequently fined and suspended from the European Tour for playing without a conflicting event release. Once those sanctions were upheld by an independent arbitrator, the tour confirmed that Bland had resigned his membership.
Further conflict came when Bland applied for entry to the 2023 Senior Open Championship, but was turned down as a result of outstanding fines to the European Tour.
