Richard Bland pulled off a victory in his senior debut on the 2024 Senior PGA Championship.
Ryan Lochhead/PGA of America through Getty Photos
Sometimes, the winner of the Senior PGA Championship, one of many senior tour’s 5 annual majors, will get a one-year exemption onto the PGA Tour Champions circuit. That’s until most of your taking part in time is spent with LIV Golf.
That’s the scenario Richard Bland finds himself on this morning. And it began with a really unbelievable victory.
Bland was a founding member of LIV Golf’s Cleeks crew, using an impressed stretch of golf and a DP World Tour win in 2021 to a spot on the upstart tour in 2022.
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After Bland turned 50 final yr, the age when a professional turns into eligible to compete on the senior circuit, the PGA of America got here calling, providing Bland a spot within the 2023 Senior PGA Championship. Regardless of his LIV credentials, previous DP World Tour winners are awarded restricted exemptions into the Senior PGA.
Bland couldn’t play final yr, however when this season rolled round he had an open spot on his schedule the week of the 2024 Senior PGA at Harbor Shores Golf Membership in Michigan. So he contacted the PGA to see if he might nonetheless play, and similar to that he was within the discipline.
Then Bland opened with a 64 and bested that tally in Sunday’s last spherical with an eight-under 63 to earn a three-shot victory. It was not simply Bland’s first senior win, however his first-career begin in a senior occasion.
Most gamers in his place would earn a complete lot extra senior begins because of their accomplishment. And Bland did earn a couple of, together with spots in subsequent yr’s Senior PGA and in at the very least yet one more 2024 senior main, the U.S. Senior Open.
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However the Senior PGA and U.S. Senior Open are usually not owned and operated by the PGA Tour Champions, a lot the just like the PGA Championship and U.S. Open are usually not run by the PGA Tour. In relation to the PGA Tour Champions common season, Bland remains to be barred from taking part in resulting from his standing as a LIV golfer, even after his main victory.
On Sunday night, the PGA Tour confirmed as a lot in a press release, writing, “Despite the win, due to competing in an unauthorized occasion by the PGA Tour, [Bland] shall be ineligible for Tour-affiliated occasions. The PGA of America, USGA and R&A every function primarily based on standards of their very own.”
“I don’t know what number of doorways that is going to open,” Bland stated after his victory on Sunday. “Clearly, I’m now dedicated to LIV.”
The excellent news for Bland? Along with his $630,000 winner’s examine for the Senior PGA, he’s made $9.8 million since becoming a member of LIV.
