When Richard Bland made eight birdies in the first 12 holes last year to start the final round of the Senior PGA Championship at Harbor Shores Golf Club in Benton Harbor, Michigan, it was his championship for the taking. There was a bogey on 13, then an eagle on the par-5 15th hole and, at that point, the engraver essentially could’ve started to chisel Bland’s name on the 36-pound Alfred S. Bourne Trophy.
While it’s not a surprise that the heralded Englishman collected his first major championship that week in the Great Lakes State, there were question marks a day earlier after he shot a third-round 74 that included five bogeys. But he went 11 shots better on Sunday to collect the spoils.
“Yeah, I remember quite a lot,” Bland said recently. “Such a special week for me. To win such an iconic event the first time trying, yeah, there's been a lot of sort of satisfaction that's come out of it. It was just a great week from start to finish.
“I kind of got out of the blocks pretty quick, early, I think sort of tied for the lead for the first day, and kind of backed that up on Day 2 and a little bit of a struggle on Day 3. And to shoot 8 under on Sunday to win, you can only dream of those things, to shoot that kind of score in a major championship and kind of finish strong down the stretch, as well. Something I'm hugely proud of.”
Richard Green was three shots back. Greg Chalmers finished third, four shots back.
Bland, 52, played in the PGA Championship last week at Quail Hollow Club, earning the exemption for his 2024 Senior PGA victory. He made the cut after shooting two under-par rounds to start before falling back on the weekend.
2024 Senior PGA Champion Richard Bland is dialed in at Quail Hollow! 🙌
— Senior PGA Champ (@seniorpgachamp) May 17, 2025
It'll be fun to watch him defend his title next week at Congressional.#SrPGAChamp pic.twitter.com/ayVXvSMvKn
This year, the Senior PGA Championship is at Congressional Country Club’s venerable Blue Course for the first time, outside the nation’s capital in Bethesda, Maryland. Aside from gathering the best players in the world, Congressional now will have hosted the PGA of America’s three biggest tournaments – the PGA Championship, KMPG Women’s PGA Championship and Senior PGA Championship.
“We are both excited and honored to welcome the Senior PGA Championship to Congressional,” said Congressional’s director of golf and athletics Jason Epstein, PGA. “We become only the fourth club in the country to host all four of the United States men’s traveling majors, and only the second to host all three of the PGA’s traveling majors.”
The championship is coming at just the right time in the calendar with most of the game’s biggest names all playing well. Steven Alker, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Ernie Els, Stewart Cink and Retief Goosen have been among the most consistent all season on the PGA TOUR Champions.
Other notables like Jerry Kelly, Stephen Ames and Justin Leonard have all won tournaments too. And of course there’s always Steve Stricker, who is a threat to win on any golf course he plays. He won the 2023 Senior PGA Championship.
But most eyes will be on Bland to start the week as the defending champion. He admitted that he’s thought about how it’ll feel on the first tee Thursday at Congressional when they announce him as the 2024 champion. He also admitted that he plans to take a few seconds to let it sink in, will take a few deep breaths, then will reset before beginning his quest to try to do it all over again.
“I'm sure once I'm there getting the feel of the place and being the defending champion, I'm sure I'm probably going to be walking a little taller that week,” Bland said. “I can't wait to get going.”
