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Irish Times
10 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Times
Pádraig Harrington holds share of the lead at US Senior Open
The two old golfing buddies relived their best days. Pádraig Harrington and Stewart Cink – both Claret Jug holders in their prime and with exemptions into the 153rd Open at Royal Portrush looming – went toe-to-toe in the second round of the US Senior Open and reached the midpoint at Colorado Springs at the foot of the Rockies locked together, inseparable. Harrington, a winner of the US Senior Open in 2022, shot a second round 67 and Cink a 66 for a 36-holes total of 134, six-under-par, three shots clear of Mark Hensby, and the duo – playing together – only completed their work minutes before a siren blared to suspend play due to lightning in the air. In his quest for a second US Senior title, the 53-year-old Dubliner holed a 20 footer for birdie on the ninth, his finishing hole, to join Cink in a share of the midway lead. Harrington started on the 10th and claimed birdies at the 10th, 12th, 13th and 17th with a sole bogey at the 15th to turn in 31 and added a birdie on the third to move into the outright lead only to drop shots at the fourth and seventh and then rejoin Cink in a share of the lead with a closing birdie. READ MORE US-based Ballymena native Chris Devlin, who came through the qualifying tournaments to earn a place in the field, rediscovered his putting touch. Having suffered a number of three putts in his opening round, Devlin bounced back with a 67 to add to his opening 75 for 142 to move inside the cut line. Leona Maguire and Jennifer Kupcho during the second round of the Dow Championship 2025 at Midland Country Club on Friday. Photograph:On the LPGA Tour, Leona Maguire – the headline act at next week's KPMG Irish Women's Open at Carton House – continued a strong partnership with American Jennifer Kupcho to move into the clubhouse lead at the halfway stage of the Dow Championship in Minnesota, where the duo shot a second round four-ball better-ball 60 for a 36-holes total of 13-under-par 127, two shots clear of American Sarah Schmeizel and Swiss player Albane Valenzuela. Maguire bounced back from four straight missed cuts on the LPGA Tour with a top-20 in last week's KPMG Women's PGA Championship and appears to have found some form headed into an important part of the season. Having opened with a 67 in the foursomes, Maguire and Kupcho moved into the lead with a 60 that saw the two complement each other. 'The plan today was just to give ourselves as many chances as we could, try to get two chances on every hole. For the most part, we did that. It was nice to start off with a birdie and sort of an eagle very early on to get the ball rolling. Jen made a nice birdie on 18 to sort of keep the momentum going through the turn. Overall, quite a fun day,' said Maguire. 'You're trying to hit a lot of fairways, a lot of greens, and just give yourself some good chances. Jen's a little bit longer off the tee than me, so trying to take advantage of her length where we can. Did that in foursomes well yesterday. Today was steady, there wasn't a lot of risk/reward to it with one being aggressive and one not. We tried to give ourselves two chances on every hole and it dovetailed pretty nicely. 'I think we executed pretty well yesterday. So more of the same (headed into the weekend). I mean, the game plan didn't change drastically today, so same as we did yesterday, a lot of fairways, a lot of greens. It was nice to see some putts go in today, so try to bring that into tomorrow as best we can.'
Associated Press
10 hours ago
- Sport
- Associated Press
Power pairing of Stewart Cink and Padraig Harrington tied heading into weekend at US Senior Open
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Stewart Cink made up five shots over nine holes against Padraig Harrington in their head-to-head pairing at the U.S. Senior Open on Friday, leaving the major champions tied for the lead after their second rounds at the Broadmoor. Both players head into the weekend at 6-under 134, though they got there much differently. Opening on the more difficult back nine, Harrington shot 31 to open his five-shot lead. Then, Cink shot his own 31 on the second nine to pull back into a tie. Cink hit all 18 greens in regulation, making it 35 of 36 for the week. He called that stat overrated, especially at the Broadmoor, where the real test starts on the notoriously difficult-to-read greens that all cant away from a monument lurking above the course on Cheyenne Mountain. 'You don't want to be chipping downhill on this course, it's not a secret,' said the 52-year-old Cink, the 2009 British Open champion who is playing in his first U.S. Senior Open. After Harrington shot 31 on the more difficult nine, then kept the lead at five with a birdie on the par-5 third, he was thinking there might be an opportunity to open a big lead heading into the weekend. A pair of three-putts — one on the seventh and the other on the par-3 fourth green that has been slowed down to temper the severe slope — resulted in bogeys. Cink hit his approach on the par-5 ninth to 45 feet and two-putted for birdie to get to 6 under. His first putt showed Harrington the line after the Irishman, the winner of the 2007 and '08 British and 2008 PGA Championship, had short-sided himself in a greenside bunker, and he made his 20-footer for birdie and the tie. 'I got a lovely read off Stewart. I don't think I would have given it as much break, so that was nice,' said Harrington, who won the U.S. Senior Open in 2022. 'They're the breaks you get when things are going well.' Both players finished the round with dark clouds hovering, and the horn sounded right after they holed out, leading to a delay of about 60 minutes. They finished the day two ahead of first-round co-leader Mark Hensby, whose afternoon round got delayed. Y.E. Yang, the 2009 PGA champion, was still on the course at 2 under and a group of five with the same score were waiting to tee off. Harrington and Cink, the only two players on the PGA Tour Champions who average 300 yards in driving distance, were well positioned to be playing together again to start the weekend. 'I love watching him play. I would hope that he probably feels similarly about me,' Cink said. 'We have mutual respect for each other. He's a world-class player and he's been doing it a long time. I would love it if we could go the distance here.' ___ AP golf:
Associated Press
20 hours ago
- Sport
- Associated Press
Kara Lawson has always been a basketball trailblazer and has a legit chance to lead USA squad in LA
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Kara Lawson has always been a basketball trailblazer and now the Duke women's coach has a legit chance to lead USA to another gold medal. She has already done it once. Lawson guided the Americans to a 3-on-3 Olympic gold medal and could have the chance to lead the USA's 5-on-5 squad at the Los Angeles Games in three years. First up is coaching the U.S. AmeriCup team that begins play this weekend in Chile. Coaching is something she wanted to do since she was a young girl growing up in Virginia. She just didn't know it would be for her country. 'I played for a long time, and, so I got into coaching a little bit later just because I had a long playing career, which is as a good excuse as any to get into coaching later,' Lawson quipped during an interview with The Associated Press. 'So I was always drawn to it. I just didn't know what my entry point was.' She just thought the entry point might be at the high school level as the WNBA didn't exist and college wasn't something she strived to do. Fast forward 37 years and she's in charge of the group of college players heading to South America. 'I'm fortunate enough to be assigned something as important as America's head coach, my goal is to do the best job possible,' Lawson said during a break as she prepared her team for the World Cup qualifying tournament. The 44-year-old Lawson could become the second African American to lead the USA women's Olympic basketball team. Dawn Staley was the women's head coach for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Lawson was a point guard at Tennessee and credits her time learning under iconic Lady Vols Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt as a big reason for her recent success roaming the sidelines. 'If you wanna learn how to coach, why not go to the best coach,' Lawson said. Lawson has had success already with USA Basketball, leading the 3-on-3 team to a gold medal at the Tokyo Games. She didn't want to look at this opportunity as a tryout to be the 2028 Olympic coach or even next year's World Cup where she is on the short list to be the next head coach. That decision will be made by Sue Bird, who took over as the new national team managing director earlier this year. 'In my experience in life, if you just keep that mindset of being in the moment, more opportunities tend to happen for you,' said Lawson, who helped the USA win gold in 2008 at the Bejing Games, where she and Bird were teammates. 'And if you're so worried about where you fit and who goes where, and am I next in line? I just never found that to to be productive and drives you crazy and it's a waste of energy. 'So I try to just lock in on like, 'what do I need to do at this job to be really good?' ' Lawson's path to coaching wasn't the one many have taken. She went from playing 13 years in the WNBA to becoming a broadcaster. From there, she spent some time with the Boston Celtics as an assistant before getting the Duke job in 2020. She led Duke to its first ACC Tournament championship under her coaching this past March and the Blue Devils made a run to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. The team has advanced further in the NCAAs each of the past three seasons. Coaching in the AmeriCup is a full circle moment for Lawson. She played in the AmeriCup in 2007, which was also in Chile, and helped the U.S. win it and qualify for the Beijing Olympics the next year. Now she'll try and lead the team to another victory and the automatic berth to the World Cup next year in Germany. 'I think the mentality for every team is to win,' Lawson said. 'Our group understands that we're on the lower end of the experience totem pole entering this competition and that we're going to face some very good teams. So the race is on for us to gain continuity, pick up our playbook as quickly as we can and get on the same page.' She knows the pressure that comes with coaching a USA team. Anything less than a gold medal is considered a failure. Lawson doesn't let the lofty expectations create additional pressure on her. DeLisha Milton-Jones was a teammate of Lawson's on the 2007 AmeriCup team and now is coaching with her. She's been impressed with what she's seen so far from Lawson as a coach. 'She has a knack for the game,' Milton-Jones said. 'Kara is well versed when it comes to the game. Started off at an early age going to games with her father. Going to college and being coached by one of the greatest ever to coach. Having experiences from NBA, WNBA, international side of things.' In the AmeriCup, Lawson will be coaching some of the most talented players in women's college basketball, including Flau'Jae Johnson (LSU), Olivia Miles (TCU), Hannah Hidalgo (Notre Dame), Madison Booker (Texas), Joyce Edwards (South Carolina) and Raegan Beers (Oklahoma). Lawson has made an impression. 'The intensity she brings every day, you feel it like that's a pro right there,' Johnson said. 'Just learning from her I learned so much in these (few) days, it's been amazing.' ___ The Associated Press' women in the workforce and state government coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at ___ AP WNBA:
Washington Post
20 hours ago
- Sport
- Washington Post
Kara Lawson has always been a basketball trailblazer and has a legit chance to lead USA squad in LA
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Kara Lawson has always been a basketball trailblazer and now the Duke women's coach has a legit chance to lead USA to another gold medal. She has already done it once.
Irish Times
21 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Times
Pádraig Harrington tied for the lead at US Senior Open
Pádraig Harrington shot a three-under-par 67 on Thursday to share the first-round lead in the US Senior Open at Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs. Harrington and Australian Mark Hensby are ahead by one stroke over seven players tied at 68, with three rounds to go at the fourth of five senior Major championships. Harrington, who won this championship in 2022 early in his senior career, birdied four of his first eight holes on Thursday before playing the back nine in one-over-par. 'I was four under through eight and probably could have been a little bit more,' Harrington said. 'I three-putted 9. The back nine is hard, but I was still really feeling my way around that nine. READ MORE 'I only played it once before. I was a little bit tentative in the lead. I suppose it's a little harder when you're leading and not knowing the course 100 per cent like you would like to.' Harrington led the field in driving distance on Thursday and hit 15 of 18 greens in regulation. Darren Clarke is tied 33rd on one over, while Chris Devlin is five over The seven players who turned in rounds of two-under 68 were Bob Estes, Ken Tanigawa, Stewart Cink, Matt Gogel, Scotland's Stephen Gallacher, Sweden's Freddie Jacobson and Denmark's Thomas Bjorn. Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez – coming off a win at last week's Major, the Kaulig Companies Championship – opened with a one-under 69 and is tied for 10th. Angel Cabrera of Argentina, who won the first two senior Majors of the season, shot a three-over 73. Meanwhile, Leona Maguire is in a tie for second at the Dow Championship in Michigan on the LPGA Tour. Playing with American Jennifer Kupcho in a team event, they are one shot behind Gemma Dryburgh of Scotland and Cassie Porter of Australia. Kupcho and Maguire got past an early bogey and put four birdies on their card. 'Foursomes, it's always a game of patience,' Maguire said. 'Nice to hole quite a long [putt] on 16. Had a nice one on 3 to bounce back after the bogey on 2 to kind of get the round going.'
