A trio of first-time KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship contenders moved to the top of the leaderboard from the Friday morning wave at Harbor Shores. Richard Bland (-12) shot a five-under 66 to take the lead, while Scott Dunlap (-11) and Chris DiMarco (-9) round out the top three in Benton Harbor, Mich, leading a low-scoring field.
"Just try and post the lowest score I could,' Bland said. "I would like to be a couple lower, but it is what it is."
Bland, 51, is making his KitchenAid Senior PGA debut. The Englishman started his senior tour career 64 to sit tied for the 18-hole lead with Richard Green and followed with a six-birdie Friday to move to 12 under.
Bland explained his best birdie of the day was on the 564-yard par-5 fifth. He arrived at the tee box off a bogey on the fourth, and a bug caught his eye while hitting his drive.
"Literally as I was starting my downswing, a fly came straight across the ball," Bland said. "I saw it and I hit it in the left trap."
Players are pin seeking in Round Two — Like this tight approach from Richard Bland!
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He ended up getting up-and-down from 130 yards out for birdie, his third of the day.
Dunlap won his first event in 191 starts at the Insperity Invitational at the beginning of May to break a 10-year winless streak. After Dunlap's 66-65 start at Harbor Shores, he is contending to make his subsequent victory only two starts later.
"That's as good of golf as I've got," Dunlap said. "Obviously I won recently, so got a little bit of confidence, maybe figured a few things out."
The Pittsburg native jumped off to a fast start Friday, opening birdie-birdie-birdie on his first three holes. He almost started four under through the stretch as his wedge horseshoed out on the 318-yar par-4 third to settle inches from the cup. Dunlap ended up going out with a bogey-free five-under 31. The momentum continued early on the back nine with a pair of birdies on the 10th and 11th before finishing the rest of the round with pars and his second bogey of the week on the par-5 15th. Unfortunately for the 60-year-old, his two bogeys this week both happened on par 5s, posting a six on the ninth hole Thursday as well.
Dunlap's best finish at the senior major over six appearances was in his 2017 debut when he finished T27. He pointed out his past struggles at Harbor Shores, missing the cut in 2022 and ending up T56 in 2018.
"My track record around here has been a little wanting, so I guess maybe I hadn't used up any of good golf," Dunlap said. "It's kind of all come out in these two rounds. See what we have left in the tank for the final two."
MORE: At Qualifying, Scott Dunlap Sped Right On By
DiMarco charged up the leaderboard Friday with a clean four-under back nine to round out a six-under 65, tying Dunlap for the low round of the morning wave. He kicked off his second side with a bunker chip-in eagle on the 526-yard par-5 10th.
"Sometimes you get a little lucky and that was certainly, I hit a great shot, but it was a little lucky to go in," DiMarco said.
The Huntington, N.Y., native added to the run with birdies on nos. 12 and 14. DiMarco's best finish at the KitchenAid Senior PGA in four starts is a T29 in 2022, the last time Harbor Shores hosted before this week.
"It's pretty hard not to shoot a good score when you hit every shot where you're looking," DiMarco said.
The 55-year-old is contending in Benton Harbor for the second time in his career. The last time was 36 years ago, in 1988, when he won the Western Amateur at Point O' Woods Golf and Country Club.
