LIV Golf’s Richard Bland takes early lead on his senior major debut at Senior PGA Championship

LIV Golfer Richard Bland carded 7-under 64 on Thursday, May 23, to take the joint lead at the Senior PGA Championship after the first round. He is tied with Richard Green for a two-stroke lead.

Green carded six birdies, one eagle, and one bogey in the first round of the Senior PGA Championship. His only bogey for the round came on the par-4, sixth hole. Bland teed off after him and fired a bogey-free round with the help of five birdies and an eagle.

Richard Bland had received the exemption in last year's championship also but couldn't compete due to a schedule colliding with LIV Golf Bedminster. However, this time, there was no event on the Saudi-backed circuit during the Senior PGA Championship week.

Speaking at the post-round interview, he said he was happy with the start.

"I got a little untidy at the end there," he said as per ASAP Sports. "Overall hit a lot of good shots. I had no real stress at all to hole anything for par apart from about a 7-footer on my 17th. So, yeah, really nice start to the week."

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When will Richard Bland tee off at the Senior PGA Championship, round 2?

Richard Bland is grouped with Lee Janzen and Billy Andrade for the second round of the Senior PGA Championship. The trio will tee off from the first tee on Friday, May 24, at 8:43 am ET.

The second round of the Senior PGA Championship will begin at 7:15 am ET. Scott Hebert, Hiroyuki Fujita, and Wes Short Jr. will be the first group to tee off from the first hole, while Mick Smith, Paul Stankowski, and Greg Chalmers will begin their round from the tenth tee.

While Bland and Green were tied at the top, defending champion Steve Stricker was two strokes back alongside Mike Weir, K.J. Choi, Jeff Schmid, and Scott Dunlap. Brian Gay, Darren Clarke, Stewart Cink, Vijay Singh, and Katsumasa Miyamoto were tied for eighth at 4-under.

Here's the leaderboard for the Senior PGA Championship after round 1:

• T1. Richard Green: -7
• T1. Richard Bland: -7
• T3. Mike Weir: -5
• T3. Steve Stricker: -5
• T3. K.J. Choi: -5
• T3. Jeff Schmid: -5
• T3. Scott Dunlap: -5
• T8. Brian Gay: -4
• T8. Darren Clarke: -4
• T8. Stewart Cink: -4
• T8. Vijay Singh: -4
• T8. Katsumasa Miyamoto: -4
• T13. Scott Hend: -3
• T13. Mark Hensby: -3
• T13. Ricardo Gonzalez: -3
• T13. Frank Esposito: -3
• T13. Heath Slocum: -3
• T13. Chris DiMarco: -3
• T19. Simon Khan: -2
• T19. James Kingston: -2
• T19. Michael Allen: -2
• T19. Cameron Percy: -2
• T19. Y.E. Yang: -2
• T19. Kenny Perry: -2
• T19. Joakim Haeggman: -2
• T19. Keith Horne: -2
• T19. Jason Caron: -2
• T19. Gene Sauers: -2
• T19. Tom Pernice Jr.: -2
• T19. Paul Stankowski: -2
• T19. Greg Chalmers: -2
• T19. Emanuele Canonica: -2
• T19. Jeev Milkha Singh: -2
• T19. Marco Dawson: -2
• T19. Jerry Kelly: -2
• T19. Arjun Atwal: -2
• T19. Michael Wright: -2