Cleeks\’ Bland is defending his Senior PGA Championship title this week at Congressional Country Club
Richard Bland just spent a grueling week competing at the PGA Championship, where he made the cut at Quail Hollow and finished tied for 37th. This week, . Then it’s back home in England for a few days, followed by a quick weekend trip to Oakmont to prep for next month’s U.S. Open. Then the U.S. Open the second week of June.
Then finally, a week to rest. Or maybe not, considering he and his wife are in the process of moving into their new house. It’s their forever home, about 15 minutes from their current residence in Surrey in southeast England.
“A little quieter,” Bland said of his new neighborhood. “I’m getting old now, so I can’t handle the hustle and bustle.”
He’s 52 years old and the schedule is grueling but he’s having the time of his life. Winning two senior major championships last summer provided exemptions into the two regular majors. And while he won’t defend the U.S. Senior Open title – it conflicts with his LIV Golf commitment that he wants to honor – this week’s Senior PGA gives him a chance to add to his growing legacy as the rare professional golfer who’s playing his best late in his career.
Becoming the oldest first-time winner on the European Tour when he won the 2021 British Masters at age 48 – in his 478th career start – certainly launched that fame. But Bland has proven it wasn’t just a fleeting moment. It wasn’t a matter of catching lightning in a bottle that week.
Less than a year later, he moved inside the top 50 of the world rankings. Then in the summer of 2022, he joined LIV Golf as an original member and has maintained his status by finishing in the top 24 Lock Zone in each of the first three seasons as Cleeks GC’s most consistent performer. He’s on pace for another Lock Zone result again this season, currently sitting 17th in points at the halfway mark of the 14-event schedule.
Oh, and he’s won the only two senior starts of his career and will enter this week’s defense at Congressional as one of the favorites.
Bland recently spoke to a collection of golf writers about his inspiring journey and why he’s been able to remain so competitive the last few years:
“To win your first event at 48 years old is not the conventional way, I guess,” he said. “But I guess I\’ve never done anything conventional.
“The British Masters was a huge springboard for me, a huge confidence boost, self-belief boost going forward. The one thing I\’m most proud of is that after that first win, I didn\’t kind of just sit back and go, right, I\’ve kind of fulfilled a dream of winning on the DP World, and at that age just to kind of drift away – which is very, very easy to do at that age. My standard stayed very high, and I was able to crack the top 50 in the world at 49 years old.
“Then obviously when LIV came along, it was an unbelievable opportunity for me, and I still say it\’s made me a better player playing against the caliber of players you\’re playing week in, week out.
“I have to play my best golf to have a chance of competing against Brooks [Koepka] and Jon Rahm and Bryson [DeChambeau] and those guys. I can\’t just sort of amble around and, OK, I\’ve played OK today and expect to beat them. That\’s not going to happen. So, it forces me to raise my game.
