Richard Bland chooses LIV over chance to defend title at US Senior Open
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Richard Bland will not defend his title this week at the U.S. Senior Open, choosing instead to play at LIV Golf's stop in Dallas while the seniors tee it up at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs.
The 52-year-old defending champ said on social media that he was committed to playing LIV's 14-event schedule with a goal of finishing among the top 24 to guarantee his spot on the Cleeks team captained by Martin Kaymer.
Action starts Thursday at the Broadmoor, which is hosting its ninth USGA championship. Among them: Jack Nicklaus' victory in the 1959 U.S. Amateur and Annika Sorenstam's 1995 win in the U.S. Women's Open.
Bland, a longtime fixture on the European (now DP World) Tour, won the British Masters in 2021 at age 48 to become that tour's oldest first-time winner. Also that year, he shared the lead at the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines after two rounds before finishing 50th.
Bland was denied entry into the 2023 Senior British Open because of outstanding fines he owed to the European Tour after his move to LIV. But his win at the Senior PGA Championship in 2024 qualified him for the Senior U.S. Open later last summer, and he beat Hiroyuki Fujita in a playoff at Newport Country Club for the title.
Without Bland in the mix, the betting favorites this week are Stewart Cink, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Steven Alker. Jimenez beat Alker in a playoff at last week's senior tour stop.
Also in the field are two-time Senior U.S. Open champion Bernhard Langer and Angel Cabrera, who has already won two majors — the Tradition and Senior PGA — this year. David Toms won the last Senior Open held at the Broadmoor, back in 2018.
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