Richard Bland gets up-and-down from water and holes out for eagle
Saturday 24 June 2017 19:54, UK
Richard Bland enjoyed one of the most entertaining rounds of his career in Munich as he lit up the third day of the BMW International Open with two remarkable shots in three holes.
Bland is still chasing his maiden European Tour title in 21 years as a professional, but the 44-year-old will head into the final round tied for the lead with Masters champion Sergio Garcia after a superb five-under 67.
The Englishman had recovered from an early bogey with three straight birdies on the front nine before the fun and games started on the par-five 11th, where he appeared to be struggling to save par after landing his approach in the water hazard short of the green.
But with his ball only partially submerged, Bland decided to remove his shoes and socks, pull on the waterproofs and wade in to get his ball back onto dry land, and the bold move paid handsome rewards as he managed to splash out - literally - to 20 feet and set up an unlikely birdie chance.
Bland dried himself off and prompted further big cheers from the galleries as he nailed the putt to move to 11 under, and even better was to follow two holes later as a perfect drive left him just a wedge for his second.
After watching his playing-partner, Henrik Stenson, knock his second in close, Bland took dead aim and his ball pitched to the right of a tricky pin before spinning sharply left and into the cup for a thrilling eagle-two.
"I got my feet wet, and then holed my second shot into 13, so I kind of ran into everything" said Bland, who admitted he enjoyed a huge break at the 11th when his ball did not disappear to the bottom of the lake.
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"The Sky guys said that they could see the ball and I was thinking it had gone for a swim and I'm going to be dropping it. And then I was walking around thinking, what kind of boxer shorts have I got on. But fortunately Gaz [Bland's caddie] saved my blushes and said he had the waterproofs in the bag.
"So it was a sort of 50/50 shot, yeah. It was one of those, if it doesn't come off, you're going to look silly, but fortunately it came out and an added bonus, I rolled the putt in to make four. I was staring six in the face, really, so that's a two-shot swing right there."
