GETTING THE MONKEY OFF HIS BACK.

Richard Bland has always been one of the good guys on tour, but now he’s also a winner. He tells us about his emotional victory at The Belfry

It takes something special for a player to get the nod to hit the opening tee shot in The Open. In recent years we’ve had Colin Montgomerie, Mark O’Meara, Sandy Lyle, and Darren Clarke, players who either have lifelong connections with the links hosting The Open that year or are Major winners signing off at the Championship. This year Richard Bland was handed the honor of getting The Open underway at Royal St George’s, a 48-year-old with just two previous Open appearances who has always had the word ‘journeyman’ next to his name. But these days Bland is also a winner, having finally got over the line on his 478th European Tour start in one of the most memorable victories in recent years.

Over the course of the four days at The Belfry, on a course measuring 7,300 yards in the middle of May, Bland dropped just one shot. Coming from eight groups and three shots back, he moved through the gears and the field with a seamless round of 66. The Sky Sports commentary box, the majority of whom had spent much of their careers alongside Bland, were all behind him and anyone with a passing interest in the game was cheering him on. Here, in among the 20-somethings and bright young things who can bomb it 300 yards in their sleep, we had a player who had turned pro before some of them were even born.