LIV Golf's Richard Brand wins U.S. Senior Open, earns second major title of 2024

Richard Brand's astonishing late-career improvement in golf can now be called historic.

The Englishman won the weather-delayed U.S. Senior Open at Newport Country Club in Rhode Island on Monday, shooting a 66 in the morning final round before defeating Hiroyuki Fujita in the second sudden-death playoff to capture golf's most prestigious title for players aged 50 and over.

He also won the U.S. Senior Golf Championship in May. The 51-year-old Brand is the first player to win both of his first two senior tournaments and both major championships.

“I'm thrilled beyond words,” Brand said on the 18th green at Newport Country Club after defeating Fujita.

The Japanese player led all week after opening with a 63, but was caught up by Brand in the final round, shooting 66, while Fujita shot 71. That forced a two-hole aggregate playoff, with both players making par on the 10th and 18th holes.

That meant sudden-death golf on the 466-yard, par-4 18th hole, played as long as possible. Players bogeyed in the first round, then in the second, Brand nearly holed out from a greenside bunker and hit the pin. It was the first time he had saved par from a bunker all week.

Fujita missed par from very close to the green, and Brand became a major champion for the second time.

“I'm just happy to be in the playoffs,” Brand said. “The trap shot is one of those shots you can be very aggressive on. I was trying to get to (Fujita's shot) and put pressure on him.”

Brand won his first DP World Tour title at the age of 48 (his 478th event) and signed with LIV Golf for the inaugural event in 2022. In 2023, he signed up for the Senior British Open, where as a 50-year-old former DP World Tour champion he was exempt, but lost the chance to play because of the fines he still had to pay after leaving LIV.

He accepted an exemption from the PGA of America's Senior PGA Championship this year and earned a spot in the U.S. Senior Open.

As a LIV Golf member, he is not eligible to play in the PGA Tour Champions, but both of his major wins count as championship wins, and there were fun posts on the tour’s social media, especially with Brand wearing his Cleeks GC hat from LIV Golf.

The U.S. Senior Open is the 1,001st tournament held by the United States Golf Association. The 1,000th tournament was held in June at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2, and was won by LIV player Bryson DeChambeau.