Career
Bland was born in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. He turned professional in 1996 and reached the final stage of the European Tour's qualifying school in 1997 to gain his card on Europe's second tier Challenge Tour for 1998. In 2001 he won for the first time, at the season ending Challenge Tour Grand Final. The win elevated him in the rankings sufficiently to gain a place on the European Tour for 2002. [3]
During his first season on the European Tour, Bland’s best tournament finish was a tie for 2nd place at the Murphy's Irish Open, losing in a playoff, and ended the year in 73rd place on the Order of Merit. In subsequent seasons, he failed to win enough money to maintain his card on the European Tour several times but regained his playing status each time, via the Challenge Tour rankings in 2004, 2008, and 2019, and via qualifying school in 2007 and 2011. [4]
In May 2021, in his 478th start on the European Tour, Bland achieved his first victory at the Betfred British Masters. At age 48, he became the oldest first-time winner on the European Tour; only Malcolm MacKenzie, with 509, had played more tournaments before claiming his first win on the tour. [5] In June 2021, Bland played in the U.S. Open for just the second time in his career. At 48 years old, he became the oldest player to ever hold a share of the lead of the U.S. Open after two rounds, [6] [7] however he fell back over the weekend to finish in a tie for 50th. [8] With eight top-10 finishes during the 2021 European Tour season, Bland finished a career-best 11th place on the Race to Dubai rankings. [9]
In January 2022, Bland finished as runner-up at the Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic, losing to Viktor Hovland in a playoff. [10]
Being just outside the Top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking in March 2022, Bland looked to find form in order to qualify for the Masters Tournament. He won his group at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, halving with Bryson DeChambeau as well as beating Talor Gooch and Lee Westwood along the way. However, he was defeated in the last 16 by Dustin Johnson, ultimately just missing out on progressing to the Top 50. [11] Bland made his full PGA Tour debut the following week at the Valero Texas Open, needing a victory to get into The Masters. He recorded a Top-30 finish, seeing him move to a highest ranking of 48th. [12]
In June 2022, Bland joined the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational Series. [13] He was subsequently subject to fines and suspension from the European Tour for playing without a conflicting event release. After those sanctions were upheld by an independent arbitrator, in May 2023, the European Tour announced that he had resigned his membership of the tour. [14]
Senior career
In May 2023, Bland applied for entry to the 2023 Senior Open Championship, to be played in late July, for which he had fulfilled one exemption category as a former European Tour winner being at the exact age of 50 years at the time of the championship. However, Bland was denied entry due to outstanding fines to the European Tour, related to breaching conflicting tournament regulations. [15]
In May 2024, Bland won his first senior major at the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship. [16] In July 2024, he won his second senior major, defeating Hiroyuki Fujita in a playoff to win the U.S. Senior Open. [17] In a quest to complete the "Bland Slam" (winning all senior majors in which he was eligible for), Bland was unable to enter The Senior Open Championship at the end of July at Carnoustie. Having not paid outstanding fines to the European Tour (DP World Tour), as the case in 2023, Bland was again denied entry to play. [18]
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