Oosthuizen is teetering on the brink of missing three majors in 2023.
Unless the R&A announces a change in the criteria for earning spots in the British Open, South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen will have a chance to play next July at Royal Liverpool because he won the 2010 British Open at St. Andrews. All past winners are given a spot in the field until they reach age 60.
However, after tying for second at the 2021 PGA Championship, then being the runner-up at the U.S. Open and tying for third at the British Open that same year, Oosthuizen is teetering on the brink of missing the other three majors in 2023.
Last week, Golfweek explained to readers how pros earn spots in all four major championships, and while each uses a slightly different set of criteria to fill out their field, maintaining a high spot on the OWGR is a primary method elite golfers use. For instance, golfers ranked 50 or better on Dec. 31, 2022 can expect to get an invitation to compete in the 2023 Masters.
As of Monday morning, Oosthuizen is No. 49.
The OWGR does not award points for performances in LIV events, so like most LIV golfers, Oosthuizen’s spot on the OWGR has slowly risen since he was suspended from the PGA Tour. In his case, Oosthuizen has risen from No. 21 in early July to No. 49 on November 20. If he goes higher than 50, and he likely will in the next week or two, Oosthuizen will not meet any of the traditional criteria used by the Augusta National Golf Club to warrant an invitation. He also won’t have an exemption into next season’s PGA Championship. As for the U.S. Open, Oosthuizen will likely need to go through qualifying to get into the field at Los Angeles Country Club because the OWGR cutoff for an exemption has traditionally been No. 60 two weeks before sectional qualifying (May 23, 2023) or on the day of sectional qualifying (June 6, 2023).
Three other LIV golfers are likely feeling better than Oosthuizen on Monday because they appear to have earned spots in the field at the 2023 British Open.
Traditionally, golfers who finish in the top 30 in the DP World Tour’s Race to Duabi earn a spot in the following year’s British Open. Rory McIlroy won on Sunday, but Spain’s Adrian Otaegui finished 15th and fellow Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal finished 23rd. England’s Richard Bland finished 24th.
Those performances do not earn them a spot in any of the other three major championships and their world rankings of 98 (Otaegui), 86 (Larrazabal) and 89 (Bland) are not high enough to earn exemptions either.
Bland is the first to admit he’s still scrambling to learn New Math.
AUSINT, Texas — Please pardon Richard Bland. As with many others peeking at a 50th birthday on the horizon, Bland is the first to admit he’s still scrambling to learn New Math.
For example, the journeyman — who captured his first European Tour victory last at the Betfred British Masters in his 478th start — had been advised by those on his side to sit out the last few weeks, regardless of his desire to improve his Official World Golf Ranking prior to the upcoming Masters.
“In all my career I really never had to worry about my World Ranking and then suddenly when I went to I think 53 after Dubai, it’s been really weird,” Bland said after his match Friday at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. “I’ve had a guy sort of helping me with sort of permutations, and he’s going like, ‘It’s probably best you don’t play this week — or not this week, you know, on another week.’
“And I’m like, ‘How does that work? I want to play.’ And I didn’t play for three weeks and I think I went up seven spots. So I was kind of thinking, well, if I don’t play for the rest of the year I might be world No. 1.”
Bland might not be due to overtake Jon Rahm any time soon, but the Englishman is playing some of the best golf of his life, regardless of his ranking. And in a group with high-profile players like Bryson DeChambeau, Lee Westwood and Talor Gooch, Bland surprisingly emerged from Pool 9 at Austin Country Club, meaning he’s reached the Round of 16, which begins Saturday.
He edged Westwood 2 and 1 on Friday to advance. Bland, the bracket’s No. 54 seed, will face No. 8 seed Dustin Johnson next.
And while the questions about his age keep surfacing — Bland is the oldest player to advance out of group play since the format was introduced in 2015 and he’s getting closer to qualifying for his first Masters at a time when he should be sharpening up for the PGA Tour Champions — he takes it all in stride.
“I guess probably someone at 49 shouldn’t be doing this for the first time. But I guess there’s always the exception to the rule, isn’t there? Not necessarily just in golf. You see it in other sports as well,” he said. “You look at Bernhard Langer, 63, 64 years old, still winning on Champions tour. What an inspiration that is for someone like myself who is maybe looking to a career in the next couple years on Champions tour.
“If you stay fit and healthy, maybe I’ve got another 10 or 12 years in me yet, who knows. So, yeah, you’ve only got to kind of look at it, in tennis you still got, okay, Rafa Nadal’s still beating all the young ones, and Roger Federer, I’m sure when he comes back will be exactly the same. So there’s always the exception to the rule. So it’s quite nice to be that exception.”
He’s certainly due the consideration for Augusta. After winning the British Masters last May, he held a share of the lead after two rounds at last summer’s U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. He was also in the hunt at the Dubai Desert Classic earlier this year, falling in a playoff to Viktor Hovland.
Now, his showing in Austin continues to fill his schedule one that was supposed to be clear this week. In fact, he was due to take his wife Catrin to New York next week for her 40th birthday. Instead, his impressive play netted him a spot in the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio.
It’s all an equation Bland didn’t think he’d have to work on, but one that he’s thoroughly soaking up.
“She flies in tomorrow,” Bland said. “With getting an invite into the Valero next week I had to put it kind of nicely that we’re not going to New York. She said she’s coming here. So that will probably cost me a bit more with a birthday present.”
While he was searching for parts of his golf game, DeChambeau seemed ecstatic to be back in the public eye.
AUSTIN, Texas — If Bryson DeChambeau was looking to quietly slide back into PGA Tour action nearly two months since he’d last played a round of competitive golf, he certainly found the perfect stage for it on Wednesday.
Due to a loaded field and a late start time, the gallery following the 2020 U.S. Open champ was paltry by normal standards, with only a few wisecracks to be heard as he walked the grounds at Austin Country Club.
And although Brian Zeigler, DeChambeau’s caddie, seemed to be seeking attention by sporting a pair of circa-1970 striped tube socks pulled high up his leg, in hipster-friendly Austin, even that only drew a handful of stares.
But most accommodating on Wednesday was his opponent, 49-year-old journeyman Richard Bland, who had every chance to hop on a rusty and erratic DeChambeau, but failed to ever manage a lead before eventually earning a draw in the opening match of pool play at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.
Having last played at the Farmers Insurance Open in late January, DeChambeau told Golf Channel on Tuesday that he had no expectations heading into the week, one in which he finally returned from a hand injury. The 8-time PGA Tour champ said he hadn’t started working with his driver until last weekend, and added that he might need surgery on the hand, a problem he compounded playing ping-pong prior to the Saudi International.
Bryson DeChambeau putts on #9 during the first round of the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports
“We didn’t play our best, obviously, but just a bit rusty,” DeChambeau said. “Obviously hit some wayward shots, just concerned — just more or less cautious, very cautious. There were some pretty good wayward shots because of that, and that probably cost me quite a bit, and then I three-putted a few times. I haven’t practiced the way I should have on the putting green for speed, and I’ll work on that after.”
In his return to action, DeChambeau knocked his first tee shot well right, rolling into a medical tent adjacent to a Torchy’s Tacos — a famous Austin-area chain. Although he hit his second shot fat and followed with a timid putt, Bland three-putted from 21 feet to halve the hole, effectively letting DeChambeau off the hook.
This script was the same on other holes — Nos. 3, 8, and 12, for example — as Bland had golden opportunities to gain an advantage after wayward shots from DeChambeau.
Although he did bury a lengthy par putt on No. 11 to halve one hole and another on No. 14 to do the same, DeChambeau was erratic throughout the round, even though he never fell behind.
Bryson DeChambeau and caddie Brian Zeigler wait on the front nine at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.
And DeChambeau had a chance to win the match on the final hole, but missed a 17-foot birdie putt.
But while he was searching for parts of his golf game, DeChambeau seemed ecstatic to be back in the public eye, playfully bantering with fans and smiling as he encountered a number of interesting scenarios.
For example, on the 13th hole, DeChambeau’s ball came to rest in a sprinkler head, in a similar area to where Thomas Pieters’ had landed earlier. While Pieters was not extended relief, DeChambeau was given a drop and he smiled throughout much of the exchange. He admitted he was a little anxious about his return.
“The butterflies are always there,” he said. “To be honest I’m very happy and content with the place that I’m at right now, and I feel like I’m progressing in the right direction. There’s a lot of things that people don’t know behind the scenes that I’m very, very pleased about in a very good way. My body is healing. That’s a very positive thing that I’m happy with. Today it didn’t fail.”
Next up for DeChambeau, who has slipped to No. 13 in the Official World Golf Ranking, is Lee Westwood, who is licking his wounds after a sound 3-and-2 beating at the hands of Talor Gooch on Wednesday. Pool play continues Thursday and Friday.
DeChambeau’s first swing of the day went painfully right.
He’s back.
Bryson DeChambeau is making his first start on the PGA Tour since the Farmers Insurance Open in January after working through injuries to his left hand and hip.
Wednesday is the first set of matches of this week’s 2022 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in Austin, Texas, and DeChambeau drew Richard Bland, who’s making his first appearance in the event and averages 292 yards off the tee at 49-years-old.
Well, on the first tee, DeChambeau pulled driver on the par-4 and flared it out to the right. After taking a few bounces, his ball ended up in a tent.
“This is pretty wild. I didn’t really think this was possible going in today,” said Hovland.
Viktor Hovland and Richard Bland went low late on Sunday to set up a thrilling finish to the DP World Tour’s 2022 Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic.
The 24-year-old Norwegian took the clubhouse lead at Emirates Golf Club with a birdie-eagle-birdie finish to post the number to beat at 12 under. Bland, who earned his first win on tour last year at the Betfred British Masters, finished his round with consecutive birdies to tie Hovland and force a playoff. Two-time champion Rory McIlroy missed out on the playoff after finding the water on the final hole.
Replaying the 18th hole, Hovland made birdie to claim his second DP World Tour title in addition to the 2021 BMW International Open. The former star at Oklahoma State also has three wins on the PGA Tour: the 2020 Puerto Rico Open, 2020 Mayakoba Golf Classic and 2021 World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba. Hovland also won December’s Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.
“This is pretty wild. I didn’t really think this was possible going in today,” said Hovland, who started the day six shots off the lead. “I knew I had to shoot a really low number but a lot of things had to go my way and I’m thankful that they did.
Viktor Hovland of Norway tees off on the eighth hole during the final round of the Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic at Emirates Golf Club on January 30, 2022 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)
“I was fuming after the three-putt on 15 and thought that was it and I knew I just had to try to finish off well and get a nice position for the week,” he continued. “I rolled a really long one on 16 and then on 17 and, hey, we got a shot.”
McIlroy finished third at 11 under, followed by five players T-4 at 8 under: Justin Harding, Tyrrell Hatton, Sam Horsfield, Adrian Meronk and Erik van Rooyen.
How to handle the weekend at the U.S. Open? “Just hang in and grind,” says co-leader Russell Henley.
SAN DIEGO – Matthew Wolff toured venerable Winged Foot in 65 in the third round of the 2020 U.S. Open and shot 68 on Friday at Torrey Pines to climb into contention at the 121st U.S. Open. And yet even the 22-year-old said he felt drained after Round 2 with golf’s toughest examination.
“The way I describe the U.S. Open to everyone,” he said, “is there’s not one shot that you can finally like breathe and relax and feel like, oh, it’s all right if I miss this a little bit because every single shot, every single putt, it takes all your attention.”
Russell Henley, co-leader after 36 holes, can relate. He had played 17 bogey-free holes around the South Course on Friday before he took three putts at his last hole of the day, No. 9, missing a 2-foot par putt that would have given him the outright lead.
“Just hang in and grind,” said Henley of his game plan for the weekend. “That’s what you’ve got to do around here.”
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Instead, he settled for shooting 1-under 70 for a 36-hole aggregate of 5-under 139 and tied Englishman Richard Bland, a 48-year-old journeyman, who posted a second-round 67 and became the oldest 36-hole co-leader of the U.S. Open since World War II.
Henley and Bland have plenty of company behind them. Wolff, who hasn’t played since the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in late April as he has been dealing with mental health concerns, finds himself one stroke back of the lead and tied for third with Louis Oosthuizen (71). Count Wolff among those surprised that he’s in this position heading into the weekend.
“My confidence was shot,” he said. “I’d say I came here with very, very – I’d say no expectations. I’d say my expectations coming here were to enjoy it and be happy, and I didn’t even know if I was going to be able to do that. Thankfully I am, as well as playing well.”
San Diego native Xander Schauffele (71) is among a trio of players at 2-under 140. Scottie Scheffler headlines those at 1-under 141.
Among the host of major champions at even-par 142 are defending champion Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Thomas, Brook Koepka and Collin Morikawa, who bounced back with 67.
Rory McIlroy backed up with a 2-over 73 but remained in striking distance heading into the weekend.
“Even though Richard Bland’s up there at 5 under (along with Henley), 1-over is right in it,” he said. “So, yeah, in for the weekend and still feel like I’ve got a really good chance.”
World No. 1 Dustin Johnson (73) straddled the cutline during his round but fought back to make the cut and is at 2-over along with reigning PGA Championship winner Phil Mickelson (69), who said he played much better on Friday.
“Even though I didn’t make a run today, I’m playing well enough to make a run,” Mickelson said.
It took 4-over 146 to survive the 36-hole cut. Jordan Spieth rallied to make it on the number with a 69. Edoardo Molinari backed up with a 76 on Friday, but survived the cut on the number and trails his brother, Francesco (76), by two strokes. They became the first brothers to make the cut at the U.S. Open since Joe and Jumbo Ozaki in 1993.
Neither Henley nor Bland, who will be paired in the final group on Saturday, have any experience contending in a major. When they exchange cards on the first tee, it likely will be the first time they’ve ever met.
“I know he won earlier this year. It might have been his first win on the European Tour,” Henley said of Bland. “Other than that, I don’t. I’m sure he knows nothing about me too.”
Richard Bland emerged as an unlikely hero at the U.S. Open even though this championship has never really been an incubator of fairytales.
SAN DIEGO — Despite the decades of ceaseless agitprop—Francis Ouimet’s upset, Ben Hogan’s comeback, Payne Stewart’s farewell, e pluribus unum marketing—the U.S. Open has never really been an incubator of fairytales. Of dramas, sure. And thrillers. But the previous 120 editions of this championship have witnessed more horrors than syrupy, feel-good fables.
That might explain why Richard Bland was beating balls on the range long after completing his second round at the top of the leaderboard at Torrey Pines. In U.S. Opens, nice guys with a great back story—the 48-year-old Englishman just won his first event in his 478th start—tend to meet the same fate as that kid in a slasher movie who decides to go investigate the noise.
We watch, hoping for the best but with a grim sense of foreboding.
Bland won’t be alone in feeling the vice tighten over the next 48 hours at Torrey Pines to where only one man (maybe) is still drawing breath. The U.S. Open is the most pitiless of the majors, each day a punishing gauntlet from which no competitor ever seems to emerge saying he shot the best score possible. Every round concludes with an official tallying of strokes, and a more private, rueful accounting of those left out there. By mid-afternoon Friday, the 156 players in the field had passed 1,000 bogeys made with the likelihood of a couple hundred more before sunset.
The South Course at Torrey Pines is the most architecturally prosaic venue the USGA visits and would be Exhibit ‘A’ in any malpractice suit against the ‘Open Doctor,’ Rees Jones. But it is adequate for what modern U.S. Opens are intended to do, which is expose every weakness from technical flaws to faintness of heart. Laudable design is immaterial to that objective on the logic that any course can be made difficult. It requires only fertilizer, green rollers and a dab of sadism.
Check. Check. And check.
The leaderboard at the 121st Open is bookended by men in their late 40s: Bland and, 22 strokes to his south, an Australian qualifier named Steve Allan. Until this week, Allan hadn’t competed in a major for 11 years and hadn’t made a cut in one for 16 years. He and Bland have combined for 13 career starts in major championships, just a few more than Phil Mickelson’s six victories in them.
Steve Allan plays a shot on the 17th hole during the second round at the 2021 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego, Calif. on Friday, June 18, 2021. (Darren Carroll/USGA)
Unlike at the Masters, a U.S. Open leaderboard is where kings and cobblers collide. Just 34 days ago, Bland was unknown to even attentive golf fans. Now he finds himself being pursued by guys like Louis Oosthuizen, Bubba Watson and Brooks Koepka (who has won more majors than his prey has played). The elite and the everyman mingle at the other end of matters too. Allan was only four shots worse than Justin Rose, who has finished top 8 in both previous majors this year. On any given day, the talent gap between the best and the rest just isn’t that yawning.
Allan will have some well-known company at the airline check-in desk tonight. Will Zalatoris was runner-up at the Masters and hit as many greens in two days as the leader (26), but a balky putter condemned him. Webb Simpson had won the U.S. Open as many times as he had missed the cut, until today. Billy Horschel, Sam Burns and Garrick Higgo are all good enough to have won recently on the PGA Tour, but weren’t good enough this week to survive the cut. One troubled phenom returned (Matt Wolff) while a comparatively serene one (Viktor Hovland) departed early, WD’ing with an eye injury.
As the second round began to wind down, the north and south poles of the halfway leaderboard were separated by only nine shots. Like most Friday afternoons at U.S. Opens, players made progress long after they had completed their rounds. Rory McIlroy signed for a scrappy 73 shortly before 1 p.m. that left him 1 over for the tournament but he figured he’d be in the top 20 by day’s end. Within a couple hours, he was. Veterans of Open wars—in experience, if not in age— know that sometimes you just have to sit back and let the USGA do its work for you.
The man who spent much of the day in the lead, has only ever played one U.S. Open. But Bland has taken his share of gut punches. He lost several playoffs in qualifying. “I’m not going to lose any sleep over that,” he said cheerfully. “I’m just enjoying this one right now.” When you come across a 48-year-old man who believes in fairytales because he’s seen too much of the other side, it makes you want to believe right along with him. No matter how much we are conditioned to expect something else. Odds are that Bland won’t sleep tonight, but he will dream.
Playing in the U.S. for just the second time, Richard Bland shot a Friday 67 to take the clubhouse lead at the 121st U.S. Open.
SAN DIEGO – As Englishman Richard Bland walked from one media stop to the next after shooting a second-round 67 at the 121st U.S. Open, he smiled and said, “Rory has to do this week in, week out, huh?”
That would be Rory McIlroy, the former World No. 1 and four-time major winner who is one of the faces of golf and usually in demand for the post-round car wash of media obligations. But this week he’s looking up at Bland, a 48-year-old journeyman pro playing in the U.S. for just the second time and his fourth major championship. All of this was new to Bland, who made 478 starts on the European Tour before becoming the oldest first-time winner on the circuit last month at the Betfred British Masters.
That victory combined with a third-place finish in Denmark helped book a spot in the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines and Bland is taking advantage, following up a 1-under 70 on Thursday by carding seven birdies in a round of 67 on the South Course and becoming the surprise clubhouse leader by one stroke over South African Louis Oosthuizen. If it holds up, he will be the oldest 36-hole leader in U.S. Open history.
Confirmed by the @USGA historian staff – at age 48, Richard Bland would be the oldest 36-hole leader in U.S. Open history.
But Bland didn’t sound surprised to be in the trophy hunt. “When I saw this place on Monday, it kind of set up to my eye,” he said. “It’s all there just straight in front of me, and that’s the kind of golf course I like. I thought, I can play around here.”
In his Twitter bio, Bland states that he is a European Tour professional golfer during the week, the joke being that he’s taken a few too many weekends off over the year. It was just two years ago, at age 46, that Bland missed so many 36-hole cuts that he was demoted to the Challenge Tour, the minor league circuit of the European Tour. But he never gave up and ignored the signs that he might be washed up. He still believed that he could regain his form and eventually win, and he did just that.
“What am I going to do, go and get an office job? I’m not that intelligent, I’m afraid,” he said. “The old saying is you get knocked down seven times, you get up eight. I’ve always had that kind of attitude that you just keep going. You never know in this game, you just keep going.”
His joy after beating Italy’s Guido Migliozzi with a par on the first playoff hole was something to behold and it became one of the feel-good stories of the year. Only Malcolm MacKenzie had played more European Tour events (509) before winning his maiden title. The response on social media, with the likes of Fred Couples and Lee Westwood sending congratulations, overwhelmed Bland.
Richard Bland waves after his putt on the ninth green during the second round of the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course. Mandatory Credit: Michael Madrid-USA TODAY Sports
“I’m just a guy who’s won a golf tournament really, when you boil it down,” he said. “But as it all sunk in, I think it was just more satisfaction than anything that I kind of got what I’ve always wanted. I want more. Every golfer wants more. Hopefully I can do it again.”
Perhaps his caddie, Australian Kyle Roadley, summarized his bosses perseverance best.
“A lot of tenacity, a lot of hard work, there’s a lot of guys that come and go in this game and to stick at it for as long as he has, hats off to him,” he said.
A spot in the U.S. Open – just his fourth major in his career, one per decade beginning with the 1998 British Open – was among the spoils of victory but he still floated in under the radar. He doesn’t even have a sponsor for his ball cap, sporting the logo of his home club, The Wisley Club in Woking, England, which gave him 10 hats to wear this week.
“So, if anyone is offering,” he said with a smile.
Don’t be surprised if he shows up with a sponsor by his Saturday tee time. His rhinoceros headcover also is telling, part of a charitable commitment in which he donates money for every birdie he makes to an organization called Birdies4Rhinos.
“Two things I can’t stand is three-putting and animal cruelty,” he said.
The putter behaved on Friday. Starting his round on hole No. 10, Bland carded birdies on five of his first eleven holes and climbed to 6 under for the championship before giving a stroke back at No. 8. It made for an easy day on the bag for the man nicknamed Roach.
“He knows what he’s doing,” Roadley said. “I’m just out there peeling bananas and telling him where the wind is, pretty much.”
The caddie for Richard Bland holds the sixth green pin flag during the second round of the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course. Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
Roadley is 53 and was on the bag last year when Finland’s Sami Valimaki, 22, won the European Tour’s Oman Open. But he got canned because Valimaki wanted a caddie more his age that he could relate to. Roadley began working for Bland in December during the tour’s South African swing and said they were just a pair of graybeards giving it their best.
“Rolling back the years, baby, that’s what it is all about,” Roadley said.
In a year where Stewart Cink won at 48 and Phil Mickelson became the first 50-year-old to claim a major, Bland said he was going to “give those gym-goers a run for their money.”
His confidence is high and he’s finding fairways, something that he’s been doing with regularity since a driver change last month. Bland spent some time last week with his golf coach, longtime Sky Sport TV reporter Tim Barter, who he calls the best coach in the game.
“In golfing terms, we just kind of speak the same language,” Bland said. “He’s part of the furniture. Just took me 20 years to listen to him.”
Listen up, golf fans, it took Bland 478 events to win the first time. Who says it can’t take just four to win a major?
It’s perfectly OK to admit that you didn’t put money down on Richard Bland to be in contention during the second round of the U.S. Open.
It’s perfectly OK to admit that you didn’t put money down on Richard Bland to be in contention during the second round of the 2021 U.S. Open.
He was the longest of longshots, with 400-to-1 odds to win the toughest of tournaments ahead of the start at Torrey Pines on Thursday, and as of publishing this post, he’s six-under and leading on Friday with other contenders getting ready to tee off thanks to a five-under (!!) second round.
So who is this guy? Glad you asked. Here are some facts about the golfer who skyrocketed up the leaderboard heading into the weekend:
Meet the guy who led at one point during Friday’s second-round action.
It’s perfectly OK to admit that you didn’t put money down on Richard Bland to be in contention during the second round of the 2021 U.S. Open.
He was the longest of longshots, with 400-to-1 odds to win the toughest of tournaments ahead of the start at Torrey Pines on Thursday, and as of publishing this post, he’s six-under and leading on Friday with other contenders getting ready to tee off thanks to a five-under (!!) second round.
So who is this guy? Glad you asked. Here are some facts about the golfer who skyrocketed up the leaderboard heading into the weekend:
