If you’re lucky, two missed cuts and a T22 finish in three major championship starts might be enough to place you among the contenders at your local club championship.
Through 36 holes, Bland holds a one-stroke lead and a whopping 4.6 strokes gained: putting over the field.
In itself, that’s a borderline unbelievable statement for a man who began 2019 as the 700th ranked golfer in the world, according to the Official World Golf Ranking, and who won his first event on a major tour in his 562nd professional start last month.
Though, he argued Friday, there would have been more if not for a handful of near-misses.
“You know, in the qualifyings that we have in Europe, I think I’ve lost in a playoff four times for this, for a U.S.
But holding onto it has proven more elusive — Bland has lost and regained his European Tour status five times in the nearly two decades since.
More fits and starts continued throughout the 2019 and 2020 seasons, and the beginning of 2021 looked to be no different.
“It’s kind of nice when you look on the European Tour website now, I’ve got that ‘1’ by my name,” he said.
“When I saw this place on Monday, it kind of set up to my eye,” he said.
In the largest, strongest field in golf, the man holding the 36-hole lead after Friday morning is not notable enough to have a hat sponsorship, though he’s working on it.
But for a moment on Friday, and perhaps for longer, the unlikeliest member of the 156-man field had risen to the top of the national championship.
“Hopefully, if I can keep playing the way I’m playing, maybe next year I might be able to experience it, or the year after.
He writes the Hot Mic, GOLF’s weekly media column, and utilizes his broadcast experience across the brand’s social media and video platforms. A 2019 graduate of Syracuse University, James — and evidently, his golf game — is still defrosting from four years in the snow, during which time he cut his teeth at NFL Films, CBS News and Fox Sports.