Richard Bland pulled off a victory in his senior debut on the 2024 Senior PGA Championship.
Ryan Lochhead/PGA of America by way of Getty Images
Typically, 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 is except 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 inconceivable victory.
Bland was a founding member of LIV Golf’s Cleeks workforce, driving 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 pro 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. Despite 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 Club 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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But the Senior PGA and U.S. Senior Open usually are not owned and operated by the PGA Tour Champions, a lot the just like the PGA Championship and U.S. Open usually are not run by the PGA Tour. When it involves the PGA Tour Champions common season, Bland remains to be barred from taking part in as a consequence of his standing as a LIV golfer, even after his main victory.
On Sunday night, the PGA Tour confirmed as a lot in an announcement, writing, “In spite of the win, because of competing in an unauthorized event by the PGA Tour, [Bland] will be ineligible for Tour-affiliated events. The PGA of America, USGA and R&A each operate based on criteria of their own.”
“I don’t know how many doors this is going to open,” Bland mentioned after his victory on Sunday. “Obviously, I’m now committed to LIV.”
The excellent news for Bland? In addition to his $630,000 winner’s verify for the Senior PGA, he’s made $9.8 million since becoming a member of LIV.
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