Richard Bland won the 44th U.S. Senior Open with a par on the fourth play-off hole at Newport Country Club, outlasting Japan's Hiroyuki Fujita in a marathon Monday finish in Rhode Island.
Both players finished on 13 under par after the third Senior Major of the year was pushed into a Monday finish due to adverse weather conditions on Sunday, with a two-hole aggregate play-off needed to decide the winner.
The aggregate play-off did not produce a champion, with both Bland and Fujita going par-par as the play-off moved to hole-by-hole format. The duo each recorded a bogey at the next, before Bland got up-and-down from the greenside bunker for par at the fourth hole and in doing so secured his second Senior Major of the year following his triumph at the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship in Michigan.
Bland, 51, trailed Fujita by three strokes with eight holes to play when played resumed at 8:00am on Monday morning and, despite a bogey at the par three 13th, the Englishman made back-to-back birdies at 14 and 15 to tie the lead at 14 under.
The Englishman bogeyed the last in regulation to drop back to 13 under, giving Fujita the chance to win his maiden Major title, but the Japanese's putt narrowly missed as the duo were destined for a play-off, which ultimately resulted in Bland winning back-to-back Senior Majors.
"This is very special, struggling to put it into words right now," said Bland. "It was just a tough day, we were chasing Fujita all week. I think he had the lead pretty much wire-to-wire. I made a great birdie on 15 to go one in front, but kind of tried to trip over myself on the last. Just thankful to get into a play-off.
"To get this one as well, to go two-for-two, that's beyond my wildest dreams."
Australia's Richard Green finished third on ten under par, with Steve Stricker a shot further back in fourth and Thongchai Jaidee and Bob Estes sharing fifth on eight under.
