LIV pro wins second-straight senior major, credits LIV for improved play

Richard Bland reacts to making a putt.

Richard Bland has won back-to-back senior majors.

USGA/Kathryn Riley

LIV pro Richard Bland may not be playing four-day tournaments all that often anymore, but that didn’t seem to hurt him in an event that extended to five days.

After weather forced the completion of the last eight holes of the final round at the U.S. Senior Open to Monday, Bland made up a three-stroke deficit to Hiroyuki Fujita in four holes at Newport (R.I.) Country Club. Bland then took the lead for the first time in the championship with a birdie at 15, gave it away on 18 and then prevailed on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff, which was required after Bland and Fujita had tied in a two-hole aggregate playoff.

It’s Bland’s second straight senior major title in what was just his second PGA Tour Champions start. The Englishman, who was a founding member of a LIV Golf team, earned a spot in the Senior PGA Championship, in May, as a former DP World Tour winner and fired a final-round 63 to win at Harbor Shores. While Bland was denied status on the PGA Tour Champions due to his LIV affiliation, his win did earn him an exemption into this week’s U.S. Senior Open.

“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 afterward. “I hadn’t played against these guys.”

Bland credited his time on the LIV circuit for his success in his two senior appearances.

“I’m a way better golfer than I was back then, but I think that’s the caliber of players that I’m playing against on LIV,” Bland said. “To play against Bryson, who won just the other week at Pinehurst, to play against him, to play against Jon Rahm, Cam Smith, D.J., Brooks, they’re the best players in the world. I don’t care what the world ranking says.

“If I’m going to compete with those guys, I have to bring my game. I have to. I can’t bring my ‘C’ game, and it won’t stack up against those. It just elevates my game, and I think it’s done that unbelievably over the last three years. It’s just made me a better player.”

Bland (and, presumably, his LIV employers) will now need to decide whether he will go for a third straight senior major at the Senior Open Championship at Carnoustie or play in LIV Golf’s UK event that same weekend. Bland win at Newport also earned him a spot in the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont.

Bland shot into contention with three birdies in a row to start his final round and added another one before play was halted due to severe storms Sunday afternoon.

He was still down three strokes to Fujita who had been playing steady golf all week before he restarted play Monday with three bogeys in five holes to drop from 16 under to 13 under.