U.S. SENIOR OPEN
Trio of Cink, Harrington, Hensby Tied After 54 Holes at The Broadmoor
The third round of the 45th U.S. Senior Open Championship at The Broadmoor began with three players sharing the lead.
After a wild Saturday on the East Course that featured a 32-minute weather suspension, temperature and wind changes, and players taking turns with the lead, Sunday’s finale will begin with those same three competitors – Stewart Cink, Padraig Harrington and Mark Hensby – at the top of the leader board.
That trio might have gotten to the finish line in vastly different ways, including a remarkable 30-yard hole-out birdie by Harrington on the 18th hole to get him back into a first-place tie, but they’ll enter the final 18 holes at 8-under-par 202 after carding 2-under 68s.
Harrington, 53, the 2022 champion, got off to a sizzling start for a third consecutive day, then cooled off over his final nine holes before draining his pitch to a thunderous roar from the fans at the closing hole.
“I was very happy with the chip,” said Harrington, “and it was a big bonus that it went in.”
Cink, 52, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour Champions but still seeking his first senior major, matched his long-hitting competitor over the first nine holes with a 4-under 32, and briefly held the outright lead during the early portion of the more-difficult second nine before suffering bogeys at 13 and 16.
“We had it going,” said Cink. “We were confused about whose tee it was after the little delay because we'd all made so many birdies. We'd forgotten who made birdies on what holes. That was a good thing. Unfortunately, it didn't last more than another two holes after that because the back nine … played more difficult, but it was also a little scrappier.”
Hensby, who could think of nothing better than hoisting the Francis D. Ouimet Memorial Trophy on his 54th birthday on Sunday, continued his hot putting in the third round. Entering Saturday with a championship-best 15 birdies while averaging just 1.54 putts per green (also No. 1), the Australian added four more birdies and an eagle on the par-5 ninth in the third round. He briefly took the outright lead on No. 16, only to suffer a bogey on the longest par 4 in U.S. Senior Open history, the 534-yard, downhill 17th, to fall back into a tie with Cink. His 6-footer for birdie on 18 to take the outright lead into Sunday also just slid past the hole.
“When you get two great players like that who start off as well as they did, especially Padraig, you kind of expect it to a certain extent, but I just felt like I've just got to play my game and try and just do the best I can do all day and see what happens,” said Hensby, who finished third in this championship in 2022. “Fortunately, some things started to go my way, [and I] got a couple of nice breaks.”
But Sunday promises to be quite a duel at 6,300 feet, and not just from the trio at the top of the board.
Thomas Bjorn, the 54-year-old Dane who is coming off a victory with partner Darren Clarke in the American Family Insurance Championship two weeks ago and a runner-up showing in last month’s Senior PGA Championship, is just a stroke back after posting a 4-under 66 to match the lowest round of the week.
Left-hander Steve Flesch (67) is four back at 4-under 206, while Miguel Angel Jimenez (68), the champion of last week’s senior major in Akron, Ohio (Kraulig Companies Championship), Steven Alker (66), the runner-up to Jimenez last week and Paul Stankowski (67) are only five back.
Billy Andrade, fighting through a back issue midway through his second nine, managed an even-par 70 and sits six back.
That might seem like a lot, but with the volatility between the outward and inward nines at The Broadmoor, anything seems possible. Given the East Course plays to a par of 36-34, there was nearly a two-stroke difference in relation to par in the nine-hole splits (35.9-35.6).
Then take in the changing weather conditions. The round began with temperatures in the 80s with little wind. Then a mountain storm rolled through at 12:45 p.m. MDT, suspending play for 32 minutes. When golf resumed, the wind picked up from a variety of directions, and coupled with the altitude, made calculating yardages quite challenging.
“It was a crazy weather day,” said Alker. “We had wind going all over the place and a storm come in quickly. Yeah, [the wind couldn’t] make up its mind. Kind of crazy.”
When the day began, many thought the championship would turn into a match-play duel between two of the senior circuit’s most powerful players: Cink and Harrington.
Cink, the 2009 Open champion with five Ryder Cup starts to his résumé, has played in 26 PGA Tour Champions events since turning 50, posting two wins and a whopping 20 top-10s, including solo third in last week’s Kraulig Companies Championship and T-4 in the Senior PGA Championship.
Harrington, 53, of the Republic of Ireland, is a three-time major champion on the regular circuit who has competed in 57 senior events othe past four years with nine victories and nine runner-up finishes. That includes a share of second in this year’s Senior PGA Championship.
Each entered Round 3 in the top 5 in driving distance and among the top 2 in greens in regulation.
And for nine holes, it looked like they might run away from the field, both getting to 10 under par. But neither could continue to build on their front-nine momentum. Meanwhile, Hensby and Bjorn began to surge. Hensby holed a long eagle putt on the par-5 ninth to reach 8 under, then added consecutive birdies on 13 (a chip-in) and 14. Bjorn’s ball-striking was exceptional as he converted short birdie putts on 13, 14 and 16, and made a 15-footer for bogey on 17 and a nice up-and-down par on the 18th hole to give himself momentum into Sunday’s final round.
Only Harrington’s miraculous chip-in birdie on 18 kept Bjorn out of Sunday’s final threesome.
“Tomorrow is a day where you just can't get ahead of yourself,” said Bjorn, a 15-time winner on the European Tour and veteran of three Ryder Cups. “Any time you play any USGA setup, you have to try and make pars. Then let the birdies come to you.”
“The history of this course means something to me. The fact that it's a good old test of golf that has hosted a lot of tournaments and produced great winners, not the least of which is one of my good friends, David Toms [in 2018]. It would be great to join that list, but even more importantly, just to claim a USGA championship, a Senior Open. It feels like a really big tournament. I love the energy in the crowd. It's a really sporty golf course, and we're having fun out there.” – Stewart Cink
“There was great momentum in the group. It was a very pleasant group, I've got to say. We seemed to be happy for each other making birdies. The last thing you want to do on a Saturday is get cut open, shoot level par, and all of a sudden the field comes back into it.” – Padraig Harrington
“I'll celebrate tomorrow. My family will call me tonight, I'm sure, but yeah, we'll celebrate tomorrow.” – Mark Hensby on turning 54 on championship Sunday
“I don't necessarily think that having to be 2- or 3-under par for six holes tomorrow is going to win the golf tournament. It would be nice, but it's not going to win you the golf tournament. It's what you do on those last four or five holes that are fairly tough and ask some big questions. I'm quite sure the pin positions tomorrow [are] going to have more questions for us. That's where you win the golf tournament. You're not going to win it on the first three or four holes.” – Thomas Bjorn
“Made a lot of good putts today. Holed out nicely, three- and four-footers, and my lag putting was really good. That's what it takes to play a golf course like [The] Broadmoor. The greens are everything here. My short game's been really good the first three days. Look forward to tomorrow.” – Steve Flesch
“Someone could go out and shoot 8 under, 9 under tomorrow. It's possible. We saw Mark Hensby get off to a great start the first day, birdied seven holes on the front nine. Low scores [are] out there. I don't know where the leaders are going to be, but maybe I have one in me. I'm just going to go hit that first tee ball right down the middle and go from there.” – Paul Stankowski
“I've had a facet join issues before, and when it spasms, it comes and goes. Sometimes it's not spasming and you can hit a shot. The hard shots are the chipping and a bunker shot or even putting is not great, but tee shots are okay.” – Billy Andrade on playing through back issues
David Shefter is a senior staff writer at the USGA. Email him at dshefter@usga.org.
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