BENTON HARBOR, Mich. — Richard Bland, on a break from his LIV Golf schedule to make his senior main championship debut, made essentially the most of it Thursday with a 7-under 64 to share the lead with Richard Green of Australia within the Senior PGA Championship.
Inexperienced performed within the morning and posted three birdies and an eagle on the par-5s at Harbor Shores. Bland had an opportunity to move him late within the afternoon till he needed to scramble for par on No. 8 after a uncommon unhealthy tee shot and didn’t birdie the par-5 ninth.
They had been two photographs away from a gaggle that included defending champion Steve Stricker.
Bland wasn’t positive he could be in any of the senior majors. The PGA of America provides a one-time exemption to anybody who has gained on the European tour over the previous 5 years; Bland turned a first-time winner on the 2021 British Masters at age 48.
The Englishman could not take the exemption final 12 months as a result of the Senior PGA was the identical week as LIV Golf Bedminster in New Jersey. However he was in a position to make use of it this 12 months.
“Fully out of the blue. I wasn’t anticipating it,” Bland stated of the one-time exemption. “Sadly I could not play it — clashed with a LIV occasion. After which after I appeared on the schedule this 12 months, I noticed that it was a free week.”
He stated he requested the PGA of America if the invitation was nonetheless good, and he was on his approach.
“I am very grateful for the invite, and hopefully I can do one thing with it,” Bland stated.
He is without doubt one of the three LIV Golf gamers of their 50s, together with Lee Westwood and Phil Mickelson. Bland has one top-10 on LIV this 12 months and is twenty fourth on the cash checklist with slightly below $1.9 million — practically $700,000 greater than Steven Alker, who leads the Charles Schwab Cup on the PGA Tour Champions.
Bland has the sport for Harbor Shores, primarily his accuracy off the tee, and that helped to maintain bogeys off his card. He did not miss a fairway till his seventeenth gap, the par-4 eighth.
“I drove the ball very well, which is a power of mine, which you want round right here,” he stated.
Inexperienced already was off to a fast begin when he hit hybrid from about 250 yards on the par-5 fifth gap to arrange eagle.
“Hit it simply excellent and simply formed it in there properly and it was monitoring in direction of the outlet,” Inexperienced stated. “I believe it ran throughout the sting of the outlet and completed about perhaps 7 ft previous the outlet. In order that was clearly a kind of distinctive holes on the proper time to get the spherical going very well.”
He added birdies on three extra par-5s to offset his lone bogey at No. 6.
Stricker had by no means seen Harbor Shores till this week and felt uncomfortable with a few of the sight traces off the tee. He nonetheless managed seven birdies, his spherical slowed by a double-bogey on the par-4 sixteenth when he pulled his tee shot right into a hazard.
“We have got a protracted methods to go, however it was vital to get off to a very good begin,” Stricker stated. “I am shocked the scores are that low.”
Mike Weir, K.J. Choi, Scott Dunlap and membership professional Jeffrey Schmid joined Stricker at 5-under 66. Two-time PGA champion Vijay Singh, who selected to not play at Valhalla final week, and Stewart Cink had been amongst these at 67.
Bernhard Langer, driving in a cart as he tries to totally get well from a torn Achilles tendon in February, opened with a 74. He was at 1 below for his spherical till a double bogey-bogey-bogey end. Langer stated he hopes to be again to strolling 18 holes in a couple of extra months.
