LIV Golf’s Richard Bland snatched victory from Hiroyuki Fujita in U.S. Senior Open playoff

If it looked like Japan’s Hiroyuki Fujita was going to easily walk away with the title at the Newport Country Club in Rhode Island after holding wire-to-wire leads the first three days, Englishman Richard Bland held a different opinion. The Englishman won his second consecutive senior major at the U.S. Senior Open, with back-to-back victories.

The U.S. Senior Open had only been his second showing on the tour, his first was in May when he won the Senior PGA Championship in Benton Harbor, MI. The title in Newport represents the third major that LIV golfers have won this year, including Bryson DeChambeau’s epic victory at the U.S. Open a few weeks ago.

The 51-year-old golfer joins elite company as one of the few players to win both majors in the same season, including Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Hale Irwin, Roger Chapman and Colin Montgomerie. Bland is also the second golfer from his country to collect a U.S. Senior Open title and the 12th to win the tournament in his debut appearance.

But if you had watched his play on Saturday — “moving day’ — you would have had doubts. Bland followed up his streak of excellence from the second round on Friday — where he carded an eagle on the second hole — with four bogeys in Round 3.

“Your first two senior tournaments to be majors and to come out on top is, I was just hoping going into the PGA that I was good enough to contend,” Bland said, according to SB Nation.

“I hadn’t played against these guys. I knew, if I played the way I know I can play, it should be good enough to be able to compete. But, yeah, to be stood here with two majors is, yeah, I’m at a loss for words at the moment now.”

After Saturday’s play, Bland was not in the final group pairing on Sunday — which included leaders Fujita, Richard Green and Steve Stricker — with the LIV Golf Cleeks’ team member just behind them. Bland ran out of the gate kicking, however, hitting three birdies in a row from the very start in Round 4. He managed to make another on the front nine before dangerous weather conditions halted play on the 11th hole by the afternoon.

Players came back out early Monday morning in Newport to finish the tourney. Even with a brightened landscape, Fujita and Bland displayed a more cautious game, with both players holding par or worse on the back nine. Bland’s two bogeys were offset by two birdies, including a save on the last hole which kept him equal to Fujita’s score.

However, Fujita was unable to make birdie on the last hole and the two headed for a playoff that lasted five more holes, where Bland’s incredible ball striking came into play.

The win in Newport also secured him an automatic spot in the 2025 U.S. Open.

“I know what you guys like to do with U.S. Opens, so just go easy on us olders [laughter]. Maybe you can stick a tee up maybe for me,” Bland said afterward, via Yahoo! Sports. “It was my first ever tournament in America in at Bethpage in ’09, and I was just blown away by it. We’re always kind of like, oh, being from Europe or from the UK, our major is The Open, but I was blown away by the U.S. Open.

“I’ll be looking at flights to Oakmont for next year very, very soon.”

The next tournament on the PGA Tour Champions is the Senior Open Qualifier in Akron, OH on July 8. The next LIV event takes place at the Real Club Valderrama in Spain beginning July 12.