“He is a Cheater” Evidence Proves Richard Bland Consecutively Winning the U.S. Senior Open for the 44th time isn’t Genuine. He will be Penalized Immediately.
- England’s Richard Bland won the 44th U.S. Senior Open with a par on the fourth playoff hole at Newport Country Club, outlasting Japan’s Hiroyuki Fujita in a marathon Monday finish in Rhode Island.
Both players finished regulation at 13-under 267, requiring a two-hole aggregate playoff on Nos. 10 and 18. After both players went par-par, the playoff moved to a sudden-death format on No. 18. Both players made bogey on the first hole of sudden-death, and Bland got up-and-down for par from a greenside bunker on the second hole of sudden death, the fourth playoff hole overall, to earn his second senior major title of the season. Bland also won the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship in Michigan.
Read below for how the Bland-Fujita playoff unfolded at the 44th U.S. Senior Open.
11:21 a.m. ET update: Richard Bland delivers a signature moment on the fourth playoff hole, the par-4 18th, rattling the flagstick with his third shot from the greenside bunker and tapping in for par to win the 44th U.S. Senior Open. After being forced to lay up with his second shot into the wind, Hiroyuki Fujita pitched to roughly 20 feet and narrowly missed his par putt on the right side. That set the stage for Bland’s winning moment, as the Englishman adds to his KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship title with his second senior major of the year.
11:05 a.m. ET update: Both players make bogey on the third playoff hole, the long par-4 18th into the wind. Richard Bland fades his approach well right of the green; his slippery pitch races past the hole and he two-putts from 20 feet. Hiroyuki Fujita’s second shot catches a front greenside bunker and he can’t get up and down, missing a 15-footer for par to win.
We’re headed to a fourth playoff hole at the 44th U.S. Senior Open, again the par-4 18th at historic Newport Country Club. After a two-hole aggregate, the format is now sudden-death until a winner is determined.
10:47 a.m. ET update: Both players two-putt for par on the second playoff hole, the par-4 18th. The two-hole aggregate playoff is tied at even par. The playoff will continue in a sudden-death format, with Hiroyuki Fujita and Richard Bland repeating the par-4 18th hole until a winner is determined.
10:31 a.m. ET update: It looked like advantage Bland on the first hole of the two-hole aggregate playoff, the par-4 10th, but Fujita drained a slippery 6-footer for par after Bland’s 10-foot birdie try slid by. They remain tied to the second playoff hole, the par-4 18th.
In the event of a tie through two playoff holes, the format will move to sudden-death on the par-4 18th, repeating on No. 18 until a winner is determined.
Monday, July 1 update (10:13 a.m. ET):After the U.S. Senior Open’s final round was completed Monday morning, a two-hole aggregate playoff will determine the champion.
Hiroyuki Fujita and Richard Bland each posted 13-under 267 at Newport Country Club. Bland made bogey at the par-4 18th Monday morning, the hole playing into a whipping wind, to post 13 under from the penultimate grouping. One group later, Fujita flushed a fairway metal to the front of the green and two-putted for par to also post 13 under. Fujita’s birdie try narrowly missed on the hole’s front edge, curling just to the left of the cup.
The two-hole aggregate playoff will be contested on Nos. 10 and 18.
The par-4 10th measures 456 yards; the par-4 18th measures 473 yards.
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Just when folks were thinking that nothing could slow Japan’s Hiroyuki Fujita at the 44th U.S. Senior Open, along came something that finally could. Weather.
- First, it was a heavy fog that delayed the morning start of the final round for two hours at Newport Country Club on Sunday. Then, a summer storm along the coast with electricity inside it rolled in during the afternoon, forcing players off the course, eventually for the day, at 3:01 p.m.
