There are few who play golf for a living that reach the dizzy heights of super stardom, but there are many who play week in, week out hoping and trying hard just for a nice payday to pay the bills.
Richard Bland had played 477 tournaments on the European PGA Tour without winning one before he, at last, was successful in his 478th start at the British Masters this month.
With the win, the 48-year-old Englishman becomes the oldest first-time winner in European Tour history.
Bland is approaching 50 and was probably thinking that after coming close several times picking up a winner’s cheque would never happen.
But he is a player who never gave up on his self-belief that he was good enough to win.
Bland epitomises the “journeyman player” and the road to making his dream come true was a long one.
He made his European Tour debut with a 99th-place finish at the 1998…
