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Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Hensby hangs tough with power pairing in US Senior Open
Padraig Harrington and Stewart Cink endured the ups and downs of the US Senior Open together for a second straight day and found themselves tied for the lead. The payoff - sharing the final tee time to kick off the weekend at the hilly, hard-to-read Broadmoor. Finishing on a high note 💪@Padraig_H made six birdies on Friday including this clutch putt on the last!@USGA — PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) June 28, 2025 Cink made up five shots over the final nine holes of his head-to-head pairing against Harrington, and the players headed into the weekend tied at six-under 134, along with the late-charging Mark Hensby. Cink shot 31 on the front nine, their second nine, to match Harrington's score on the back. Both players - the only two who average more than 300 yards driving on the 50-and-over PGA Tour Champions - called it a comfortable pairing, especially on a hilly course at altitude where gauging distance is anything but routine. "If anything, he'd be a little bit longer than me," Harrington said. "But I suppose I know his game enough that I can see what's happening, as well. He is definitely a partner I would choose to play with." Hensby shot his second straight round of three-under 67, finishing the day with his 14th and 15th birdies of the tournament. That included a 20-footer on No.8 that would have been from closer had his tee shot not hit Doug Barron's ball on the green. Hensby was nine-under par on the front nine and three over on the back after two days. "Making a lot of birdies, so that's a good thing around here," the Australian said. Don't count out Mark Hensby 👀The Aussie is T1 in Colorado Springs! — PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) June 28, 2025 Three behind are Thomas Bjorn (69), followed by YE Yang (68) and Billy Andrade (69) at two under. At one under, Darren Clarke, Steve Flesch and Miguel Angel Jimenez rounded out the list of nine players heading into the weekend under par. Cink hit all 18 greens in regulation, making it 35 of 36 for the week. He called that stat overrated, especially at a course where the real test starts on the notoriously difficult-to-read greens that 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 US Senior Open. Cink two-putted from 45 feet on No.9 for his fifth birdie on the front and a score of 66 - the best of the tournament so far. After Harrington shot 31 on the more difficult back 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. But it ended well for the three-time major champion, whose wins came at the 2007 British Open and the '08 British and PGA Championship. Short-sided in a greenside bunker on No.9, Harrington made a 20-footer along the same line Cink had just putted for a birdie to head into the clubhouse in a 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 US Senior Open in 2022. "They're the breaks you get when things are going well." Australian Scott Hend (69) is tied 10th at even par, while Steven Alker and Stuart Appleby are a shot further back. Among those missing the cut were 12-time senior major champion Bernhard Langer, who shot 77, and Angel Cabrera, a two-time major winner this year, who shot 75. Both missed the number by three.
Irish Times
a day 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.'
Yahoo
a day ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Aussie Hensby goes on birdie-blitz in US Senior Open
Mark Hensby and Padraig Harrington have both gone on a birdie-blitz to share the first-round lead at the US Senior Open. The Australian made seven birdies while Harrington made four on their way to three-under-par 67s at the Bradmoor on Thursday. Both had contrasting rounds. Leaders after the first round at the U.S. Senior Open Championship 🏌️♂️ — PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) June 27, 2025 Hensby made seven birdies on the front nine before coming unstuck on the way home - closing with back-to-back bogeys - while for Harrington it was the miraculous bogey he saved after losing a tee shot deep in a thickest of trees on the 15th that helped him earn a share of the lead. Hensby spent the entire morning in the lead, though after he signed his scorecard he hardly looked like a player winning a senior golfing major. "Obviously, I felt like I lost some out there," he said. "It's just frustrating. I played like (expletive) the back nine. What else can you say?" Hensby finished with a pair of bogeys, each coming after drives that missed the fairway and landed in rough that is thick, but not Oakmont thick, and not the biggest problem at this course nestled at the base of Cheyenne Mountain. "There's so much slope, and it all comes off the mountain - most of the time," Hensby said. "Sometimes it doesn't. But the greens were softer today, so it kind of made it a little bit easier, and probably not as fast as they can get." Harrington, the 2022 US Senior champion, made all four birdies on the (easier) front nine and was leading by one when he snapped his tee shot on the par-4 15th deep into the woods. The Irishman took a cart back to the tee box for his third shot, then hit that into the right rough. His approach to 20 feet and the ensuing make limited the damage and he made three pars on the way in to stay atop the leaderboard. The leaders are one ahead of a group of six, including Stewart Cink, who hit the first 17 greens before making bogey after coming up short on No.18. It was, indeed, a calm, partly cloudy day less than 36 hours removed from a massive thunderstorm that soaked and softened the course. Even so, only 17 players finished under par with a few in the 156-man field still on the course as dusk approached. Special shoutout to the Broadmoor agronomy team 👏After an inch of rain (and hail!) on Tuesday, the agronomy team has the course in major shape 💪 — PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) June 25, 2025 When the tournament was last played here in 2018, David Toms won with a score of 3-under par - a number that made Hensby's six under after nine that much more remarkable. But Hensby, who shot 63 in the second round of last year's US Open at Newport Country Club was more focused on the back nine. "I've never been a very consistent player," he said. "I'm hot or cold, and that kind of sucks. Certain shots I keep hitting during rounds, it just (ticks) me off, so to speak. So yeah, the back nine was just kind of a bit of that." Fellow Australians Greg Chalmers and Rod Pampling finished even par, with Stuart Appleby, Richard Green, Steve Allan and Scott Hend a shot further back.
Washington Post
a day ago
- Sport
- Washington Post
For Harrington, one bogey outshines the birdies and keeps him in share of lead at US Senior Open
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Padraig Harrington said he thought it was one part nice, another part disappointing, to scrounge out a bogey after snapping a tee shot deep into the woods on the 15th hole of his opening round at the U.S. Senior Open. Either way, that scramble Thursday kept Harrington atop the leaderboard, tied with Mark Hensby at 3-under 67 at the Broadmoor, where every shot is an adventure.
San Francisco Chronicle
2 days ago
- Climate
- San Francisco Chronicle
Mark Hensby holds onto an early lead at US Senior Open, even after tricky Broadmoor takes its toll
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Mark Hensby made seven birdies over the first nine holes Thursday at the U.S. Senior Open, and even after the greens at the Broadmoor and the major-championship conditions caught up with him, he left the course with the early first-round lead. The Aussie finished the day at 3-under 67, good for a one-shot lead over Bob Estes, Thomas Bjorn and three others with the morning rounds wrapping up and the afternoon wave hitting the course. Miguel Angel Jimenez was part of a group of six that shot 69. It was Hensby who spent the entire morning in the lead, though after he signed his scorecard, he hardly looked like a player winning the U.S. Open. 'Obviously, I felt like I lost some out there,' he said. 'It's just frustrating. I played like (expletive) the back nine. What else can you say?' Hensby finished with a pair of bogeys, each coming after drives that missed the fairway and landed in rough that is thick — but not Oakmont thick, and not the biggest problem at this course nestled at the base of Cheyenne Mountain. 'There's so much slope, and it all comes off the mountain — most of the time,' Hensby said. 'Sometimes it doesn't. But the greens were softer today, so it kind of made it a little bit easier, and probably not as fast as they can get.' A big storm Tuesday dumped water all over the course, but drier conditions are expected for the weekend. When the tournament was last played here in 2018, David Toms won with a score of 3-under par. Hensby reached 6 under after making birdie on the par-5 ninth — traditionally one of the easier holes. It would be no surprise if he's the first and last player to reach that number. 'The biggest thing is the greens,' said Shane Bertsch, a native of nearby Denver who was part of the group at 1 under. 'The greens are very, very severe. You can't ram at any putts. You're always kind of guessing a little bit because of all the mountain break and everything.' ___
