Three for All: Harrington Makes History With Trio of Senior Open Titles

There is a reason why someone the caliber of Padraig Harrington had the golf chops to get himself inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Under the biggest pressure in the most prestigious competitions, the experienced and affable Irishman just knows how to close.

A Mariano Rivera of the links.

That intestinal fortitude – and magnificent skill – was on full display in Sunday’s final round of the 46th U.S. Senior Open Championship at Scioto Country Club. Entering the day a stroke behind Stewart Cink, the hottest player on the PGA Tour Champions who was eyeing an unprecedented third consecutive senior major of 2026, all Harrington did was fire a 4-under 66 to successfully defend the title he captured a year ago at The Broadmoor.

His 72-hole total of 12-under 268 was four strokes ahead of Cink, who had a disappointing final round, shooting 1-over 71 after a bogey-free 64 in the third round. Harrington was the only player in the field to register sub-70 rounds all four days, and he achieved it without a single three-putt green.

U.S. Senior Open rookies George McNeill (71--274) and Ian Poulter (67—275) finished solo third and fourth, respectively.

Two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen, qualifier Jamie Donaldson and Paul Stankowski shared fifth at 4-under 276. It was Stankowski’s third consecutive top-10 finish.

Coupled with his 2022 victory at Saucon Valley Country Club, Harrington, 54, has now hoisted the Francis D. Ouimet Memorial Trophy three times, matching the late Miller Barber for the most in U.S. Senior Open history. He also is the fourth player to capture back-to-back titles, joining Barber (1984-85), Gary Player (1987-88) and Allen Doyle (2005-06).

“It's different, I've got to say,” said Harrington, whose first two Senior Open victories came in nailbiters. “It feels great, but obviously there wasn't the drama that I know we normally provide down the stretch. That doesn't mean that I wasn't feeling it. I was really trying to stay in it, stay focused. I knew I had a nice lead which let me play to the middle of the greens, let me hit the shots.

“But I did hit some big shots coming on the way home to take all the stress out of it. I had a great week putting, which wow, golf is easier when you putt well.”

The competitors enjoyed the best weather conditions of the week with temperatures in the low 80s, a nice breeze and much lower humidity. Tee times also were pushed up for the second consecutive day due to threatening late-afternoon thunderstorms.

When the day began, almost everyone thought it would be a heavyweight showdown between the two competitors who had claimed the last four senior majors dating back to last season. Cink, 53, of Atlanta, Ga., was vying for an unprecedented third consecutive major in 2026, while Harrington also claimed the 2025 Senior Open Championship at Sunningdale, in England, last July, shortly after his U.S. Senior Open victory in Colorado.

But it just never materialized. Harrington bolted out of the gate with two quick birdies, while Cink bogeyed the second to two behind. The powerfully built Georgia Tech alum played the opposite of a popular credit card slogan: he hit it everywhere you don’t want to be.

Playing out of the rough bunkers was certainly not the way to attach the classic Donald Ross design that was renovated after the 110-year-old club hosted its second U.S. Senior Open in 2016 by Ross specialist Andrew Green.

Cink went out in 2-over 37, then parred eight consecutive holes before making one at the last but still ending up short of Harrington for a second consecutive year.

“Today, as it turned out, I played poor enough where there was really not a championship on the line, but I was still battling hard for second,” said Cink, who won the 2009 Open Championship in a memorable playoff duel with Tom Watson at Turnberry. “I wanted to play well and set myself up for the rest of the year. Golf got hard for me today. It happens [in this game]. It's been a while since I had a day like that where start-to-finish it pretty much felt difficult.

“My scorecard pretty much tells the story.”

McNeill, who was two of 12 in made cuts at majors prior to turning 50 and joining PGA Tour Champions, started the final round two behind Cink, but was stuck in neutral the entire day. Nevertheless, the Florida State alum who resides in Fort Myers, Fla., posted his sixth top 10 this season in an individual competition.

“I would've said I'll sit on the couch and watch,” said McNeill on his performance this week. “I'll take it. I did not expect this. On Thursday I said I just hope I play good enough to make the cut. Obviously, I played fairly well on Thursday and Friday and then kind of held on through the weekend. There is a lot of things I need to work on, but for that finish and to finish where I did, I'm pretty pleased with it.”

Miguel Angel Jimenez, of Spain, who carded a 64 in last year’s U.S. Senior Open to finish solo third, didn’t have the same mojo this time around, struggling to a 73 to finish tied for eighth with fellow European Ryder Cupper Darren Clarke and U.S. Senior Open rookie Pat Perez.

Poulter, another player who made a name for himself in the Ryder Cup, matched Perez and Goosen with the second-lowest rounds of the day, started too far back of the leaders to make a serious run for the title. Still, the 50-year-old who competes on LIV Golf and owns three PGA Tour titles, registered five birdies against two bogeys.

The day – and the championship – belonged to Harrington, a 2024 Hall-of-Fame inductee who registered three majors when he competed on the PGA and European tours. In the midst of playing eight consecutive weeks, the tenacious 54-year-old from Dublin was magical on the greens, ranking first in putting for the championship (1.64 per green). He tied for first in birdies (19) and tied for ninth in greens in regulation (52 of 72).

He sent a message right from the opening hole of the final day, converting a 15-footer for birdie. He then stuffed his approach at No. 2 to 5 feet to set up another birdie, and with Cink’s bogey, he took the lead for good at 10 under par. A bogey at the fifth was just a momentary blip on this brilliant Sunday.

The coupe de gras came at the 515-yard eighth hole, which normally plays a par 5 for the membership. All Harrington did was roll in a 25-footer for birdie to extend his lead to four strokes over Cink and McNeill. Cink, on the other hand, hit what he thought was a perfect drive, only for the ball to roll out into the penalty area, leading to a bogey.

“Eight was a big hole in the sense of him making bogey, but also me holing the [long] putt and George [McNeill] missing the [short birdie] putt. It was a big hole all around…There's no doubt eight is the toughest hole out there. I hit that 6-iron right in the middle of the green, and I can tell you it's probably 15 feet left of where I was trying to hit it. You're only trying to hit it up on the right half of the green there.

“It's a hole which you feel you can mess up on. I holed two 10-footers on that hole for pars during the week. That was a big hole for me every day. I played it in 1 under par all week, but I holed some nice putts on it for those pars.”

After a birdie on No. 11, Harrington made seven consecutive pars coming in, often hitting safely to the middle of greens and calmly two-putting.

Celebrating with long-time caddie Ronan Flood and a congratulatory kiss from wife Caroline concluded an idyllic day in central Ohio for Harrington.

Now, he’ll look forward to defending his Senior Open title at Gleneagles in a few weeks as well as playing The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. Next week, he drives up to northern Ohio for the Kaulig Companies Championship (Senior Players) at Firestone CC., in Akron.

Of course, this U.S. Senior Open title earns Harrington a place in next year’s U.S. Open at Pebble Beach (Calif.) Golf Links, where he tied for fifth in 2000, just 17 strokes behind runaway champion Tiger Woods. He shared 22nd in 2010 when Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell won. Harrington spent that evening in the area celebrating with his good friend.

You can bet there will be a little celebrating on Sunday night.

After all, he’s now the toast of Scioto. 

What the Champion Receives

• A gold medal
• Custody of the Francis D. Ouimet Memorial Trophy for one year
• Winners check for $800,000
• Exemptions into the next 10 U.S. Senior Opens
• Exemption into the 127th U.S. Open at Pebble Beach (Calif.) Golf Links
• Exemptions into the next five Seniors Open Championships conducted by The R&A
• Exemptions into next three Senior Players Championships and Regions Tradition
• Name inscribed on the 2026 USGA Champions’ Plaque that will reside in the Hall of Champions at the USGA Museum & Library, in Liberty Corner, N.J.

Notable

• The 2027 U.S. Senior Open will be contested at Oak Tree National Golf Club, in Edmond, Okla., from July 1-4. Tickets can be purchased here.
  
  
• The top 15 scorers and ties earned exemptions into next year’s championship. That group included John Rollins (T-11), who survived both local and final qualifying to play this week. Jamie Donaldson (T-5), of Wales, was the only other qualifier to achieve that feat.
  
  
• Dating back to last year’s championship, Padraig Harrington now has posted eight consecutive sub-70 rounds.
  
  
• Darren Clarke, who shot a third-round 64, followed up with an even-par 70 to post his best finish in seven U.S. Senior Open starts (T-8).
  
  
• Haymes Snedeker, the older brother of 10-time PGA Tour winner and 2026 U.S. Presidents Cup captain Brandt Snedeker, earned low-amateur honors with a 72-hole total of 4-over 284. Besides a medal, Snedeker earned an exemption into next month’s U.S. Amateur at Merion Golf Club, the U.S. Mid-Amateur at Sand Valley Resort in September, and the 2027 U.S. Senior.
  
  
• Tim Petrovic, who finished at 3-over 283, had the shortest commute of any competitor this week. He parked his recreational vehicle (RV) in the Scioto Country Club parking lot, right next to the PGA Tour Champions’ fitness trailer.
  
  
• The par-4 eighth (4.55) and par-3 14th (3.28) ranked as the first and third hardest during Round 4, and each gave up one birdie on Sunday. Champion Padraig Harrington birdied the eighth, while Retief Goosen made the lone 2 at 14.

Quotable

“I've done a few back-to-backs in my career, so I'm happy about that, back-to-back Opens back in the day. There is a lot of pressure when you come in as a defending champion. I'm sure Stewart would have been in the same boat this weekend as he won the first two [senior] majors [of 2026]. I was very tentative the first day, very cautious. I got lucky that I finished strong and made a couple of birdies. If I didn't make those couple of birdies the first day, I probably could have been going out the second day looking at the cut line.” – Padraig Harrington on the pressure of defending

“This is a big golf course. It's a big setup. You feel like you're playing a real competitive tournament. You have to be at all times on your game. You've got to be focused, and you've got to be patient. You've got to deal with what you get. There's a lot of stuff that can be thrown up.” -- Harrington

“It caught up with me a little bit today, but I'll look back at this week and think about Saturday's round. It was absolutely a great round, great round, and I pulled a good one out of a hat with it on Thursday, and with a late flurry on Friday, too. I'll learn something from today. I'll evaluate it and figure out if there was anything I could have done differently.” – Stewart Cink

“All in all, Padraig played great. He was going to be hard to beat the way he was playing. He's been such a great competitor. I've had so much respect for him for a long time, and I'm happy that he's … the winner. And also Haymes Snedeker, the low am. I got to know him a little bit better this week. My host where I stayed (French family) caddied for him, a member here. I got to spend a lot of time with Haymes, so I was proud of him the way he played, too.” – Cink

“Padraig [has] always been a world-class player. It's not like he just showed up one day. He's won [three] majors on the regular tour, [two] British and [one] PGA and now he has [four] majors out here [as a senior]. [He does the] right things, hits the right shots [and] hits it fairly straight. Good short game. Makes a lot of putts. You would expect [that] of him.” – George McNeill on champion Padraig Harrington

“I didn't know what to expect. What I did know was everybody that plays out here – major winners, multiple major winners, prolific winners on the PGA Tour, European legends – [that] it wasn't going to be easy. I knew I had to play well. I did play well. But it was great fun for me. It was great to have a run on the front nine today (3-under 32) and to really enjoy the first over-50 event.” – Ian Poulter

“I'm very happy the way I finished. I really struggled today, this whole week. I hit the ball terrible off the tee, missed a lot of fairways. My putter kept me alive. Made a lot of up-and-downs and a lot of good par saves.” – Retief Goosen

“It was exciting. I was looking forward to it. Anytime you get in major championships, obviously you're excited for the opportunities. I got the [Senior] British Open last year, just turning 50 for my first one and enjoyed that, but I was excited to come here. I'd heard great things about this golf course. I felt pretty good about my game coming in. I've been doing a lot of good things, hitting the ball well. I let a couple putts get away from me today, but overall, it was a great week.” – John Rollins, who survived local and final qualifying to finish T-11 in his first U.S. Senior Open

“I've played in numerous USGA events. I've never been at an event that was run this well. Everything here was planned out perfectly. What's made the week really special is I've had a good friend, David French, on the bag, who's the club champion here. His mom is 19-time club champion. I had so much local knowledge. The membership basically adopted me once I got here. It's just hard to put into words how special the membership made me feel. I feel like I should be like an honorary member now or something like that. Maybe get David to make the push for that.” – Haymes Snedeker, who was the low amateur

David Shefter is a senior staff writer at the USGA. Email him at dshefter@usga.org.