Cazoo Classic 2021 R1
August 12-15
London Golf Club, Ash, Kent, England
€1,250,000
Round 2, Round 3, Round 4

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

England's Richard Bland carded an opening 65 to take the lead of the Cazoo Classic at London Golf Club.

He produced seven birdies, three of them back-to-back from the 10th and remained bogey free to reach 7-under.

Cazoo Classic 2021 R1

Bland has had a remarkable year, becoming a first time winner on Tour in his 478th attempt at the Betfred British Masters in May and the oldest player in history to hold the 36 hole lead at the U.S. Open Championship in June.

He is playing for the first time since the Open Championship at Royal St. George's where he hit the opening tee shot and finished T67.

Cazoo Classic 2021 R1

“Pretty much all of it was good today, I just felt like it was a continuation from where I left off before my break. I was driving the ball great, hitting some nice iron shots in and I didn’t really hole that much to be honest."

He is currently ranked 17th in the Race to Dubai and hoping to stay in the top 30 to earn his place in the WGC-HSBC Champions and next year's Open Championship at St Andrews.

Cazoo Classic 2021 R1

“I want to get to the WGC-HSBC at the end of the year and a big goal of mine would be to get to The Open next year at St Andrews. I’ve never played an Open at St Andrews and to play the 150th edition there - not sure I want to hit the first tee shot again, although I wouldn’t mind it there, it’s a bit wider than it was at Royal St George’s.

“To play that one would be very special. But I just want to keep doing what I’m doing and that’s worked for me, keep that going into next year because I plan to go to the Champions Tour next year, so that’s starting to come onto my radar.

"So I just want to stay as competitive as I possibly can up to that point and if I keep doing what I’m doing then that’ll be the case.”

Tied behind him at 6-under are his countrymen Jordan Smith and Dale Whitnell, as well as Americans Sean Crocker and Sihwan Kim.

“It's been good, I just putted really well today," said Kim. "I had some bad tee shots but recovered pretty well and after a break on number one, I was able to recoup and make some birdies out there

“It's a nice course, a little soft but I just had to control the spin a little bit and the greens got a little bumpy so I had no expectation with the putting.

“I just got my tee shots under control a little bit and my putting has been really good the last few weeks so I'm hoping that'll keep going.”

Cazoo Classic 2021 R1

Lucas Bjerregaard of Denmark, France's Joël Stalter and Swede Niklas Lemke are tied in sixth place at 5-under.

“I did have a nice day," said Bjerregaard. "I got myself into a bit of trouble a couple of times but luckily I got out of it and I'm very pleased with the round today, it's nice to continue some of the good stuff from last week.

“I hit a terrible drive at 16, found it luckily, hit a really good shot out of there which rolled just over the green, didn't hit a great chip shot and then thought I'd missed the putt right and it caught the edge and went in. I think that sums up my day pretty well.

“It was nice to get off to a good start and there was lots of good in there - it wasn't all like 16. So it's nice, I'm not complaining. It's a lot more fun playing like this than the way I have been playing lately.”

Cazoo Classic 2021 R1