The Kitchenaid Senior PGA Championship concluded recently. After an epic final round, Richard Bland was victorious. The PGA of America had given this Major tournament on the Senior Tour a whopping $3.5 million prize purse, so there was money at stake for everyone involved.
Bland earned a nice payday of $630,000 for his win. He won by three strokes after shooting 63 in the final round. Behind him were the following golfers at the Kitchenaid Senior PGA Championship:
Richard Green, $378,000
Greg Chalmers, $238,000
Jason Caron, $154,000
Scott Hend, $154,000
Chris DiMarco, $117,640
Ernie Els, $117,640
Steve Stricker, $106,920
Retief Goosen, $95,670
Stewart Cink, $95,670
Kenny Perry, $83,800
Brian Gay, $82,800
Jerry Kelly, $73,890
Stuart Appleby, $63,300
Joakim Haeggman, $63,300
Mike Weir, $63,300
Arjun Atwal, $47,795
Padraig Harrington, $47,795
Michael Wright, $47,795
Paul Stankowski, $47,795
Tim Petrovic, $32,673
Darren Clarke, $32,673
Justin Leonard, $32,673
Cameron Percy, $32,673
Scott Dunlap, $32,673
Shane Bertsch, $32,673
Steve Flesch, $24,540
Jeff Schmid, $24,540
Stephen Ames, $20,443
Joe Durant, $20,443
Y.E. Yang, $20,443
K.J. Choi, $17,415
Marco Dawson, $17,415
There was plenty of money at stake, even for golfers who can’t compete on the PGA Tour anymore due to their age.
Richard Bland wins on debut at Kitchenaid Senior PGA Championship
Richard Bland made his Senior Major debut after playing on LIV Golf. With a break in the schedule for the Saudi-funded tour, he played at Harbor Shores and earned a victory.
Bland hadn’t realized that the Senior Major allowed golfers who’d competed on the European Tour in the last five years to play, so he was allowed into the field despite the split between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, and LIV Golf.
Richard Bland won the Kitchenaid Senior PGA Championship
Since his schedule allowed, he asked and was invited to compete. It couldn’t have been a more perfect outing for Bland, who said via AP:
“The British Masters was very special at 48. This is right up there. I couldn’t be happier. I’m going to celebrate the h**l out of this one.”
Bland’s brother had been diagnosed with stomach cancer in the last year and lung cancer more recently. The senior golfer dedicated his win to his brother and played quite well, with eight birdies in 12 holes during the final round.
The victory does provide an interesting path forward for Bland. He is still with LIV, but he’s 25th in points and not guaranteed a spot in the tour next year. On this, he said:
“I don’t know how many doors this is going to open. Obviously, I’m now committed to LIV… This is my first event. I was interested to see if I brought my game how it would stack up against these guys. Thankfully, it does.”
Perhaps the Kitchenaid Senior PGA Championship win will push him to look at other options in the future.
