‘Blandy’ Soaring High In International Series Philippines.

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Double Senior Major winning Richard Bland was brilliantly soaring high and straight into contention on the opening day of the International Series Philippines near Manilla.

The 52-year old highly affable Englishman posted an eagle and five birdies in a sizzling six-under 66 in the $US 2m Asian Tour event being hosted by the Sta Elena Golf Club just to the south of the Philippines capital.

Thailand’s Sarit Suwannarut leads the way and carring his recent good run of form in posting an eight-under 64,  one shot fewer than another in-form player, Japan’s Kazuki Higa, a two-time champion already this season – at the Shinhan Donghae Open and the Yeangder TPC.

Bland, and sensational winner of last year’s back-to-back Senior PGA Championship and Senior US Open, shares third place alongside Thailand’s Chapchat Nirat and the Americans Charles Porter and George Kneiser.

Bland, as he is affectionately known, kick-started his round from the 10th and birdieing the hole before a birdie on 15 but  the highlight of his day in eagling the par-5 16th.  He made the turn at three-under and raced to six-under with birdies at his 12th, 13th and 14th holes (three, four and five on the scorecard) ahead of his only mishap in taking a bogey ‘5’ at his 18th or the ninth on the card.

Blandy is competing for a first time since a T32nd place finish last August at the LIV Golf event at Indianapolis to be lying 27th overall on the season standings from his 13 LIV events this past year with a best finish individual finish of seventh in Adelaide, Australia to end the year.

Teamwise?  His Cleeks GC team are 12th.

Former W0rld No. 1 Dustin Johnson is just one shot back of Bland in a five-way tie for seventh with a round of five-under 67.  The double Major winnning Johnson capped his round with nine birdies but with ‘DJ’ undoing his good work with a double-bogey ‘6’ at the 15th and the 6th hole of his round.

However DJ showed his class ending with a pair of birdies.

Johnson said he enjoyed his first professional round in the Philippines.

“It was a good atmosphere and Miguel (Tabuena) is a really nice player and it was a lot of fun to play with him and Louis (Oosthuizen) today. We all played pretty well, it was a good atmosphere, and we made a lot of birdies,” said Johnson.

“I played well. If any day, any time you make nine birdies, you know you hit a lot of really good shots. I had a lot of good looks at birdie and hit just one bad drive on the 15th and ended up making a double. Obviously, still in a good position going into tomorrow and the rest of the week.”

Sarit – fourth in SJM Macao Open, tied 11th in the Jakarta International Championship and tied ninth in Mercuries Taiwan Masters in his previous three starts on the Asian Tour – started on the back nine and made four birdies on his way out, and added five more on his back nine.

“It was perfect. I’ve been playing pretty good. I mean, before a round, I know I can share the ball number with my caddie and hit the shots. I tell myself, you can hit it, you can do it,” said Sarit.

“I’d say a couple of things have happened. I changed the putter in Korea and it started working pretty good, and then I also changed my coach. I have been working on my swing, and the changes are becoming pretty good.”

A two-time winner of International Series titles, Sarit knows a thing or two about winning on the big stage.

“I just want to play good golf. I am excited to play with a lot of good players like Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, and a lot of the guys from LIV Golf. So, just excited to play well,” said Sarit, who is currently ranked 25th in the Asian Tour Order of Merit and 52nd in The International Series Ranking.

  • With thanks Asian Tour.


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