COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Padraig Harrington and Stewart Cink endured the ups and downs of the U.S. Senior Open collectively for a second straight day Friday and located themselves tied for the lead.
The payoff — sharing the ultimate tee time to kick off the weekend on the hilly, hard-to-read Broadmoor.
Cink made up 5 photographs over the ultimate 9 holes of his head-to-head pairing in opposition to Harrington, and the gamers headed into the weekend tied at 6-under 134, together with late-charging Mark Hensby.
Cink shot 31 on the entrance 9, their second 9, to match Harrington’s rating on the again.
Each gamers — the one two who common greater than 300 yards driving on the 50-and-over PGA Tour Champions — known as it a cushty pairing, particularly on a hilly course at altitude the place gauging distance is something however routine.
“If something, he’d be a little bit bit longer than me,” Harrington mentioned. “However I suppose I do know his sport sufficient that I can see what’s occurring, as effectively. He’s undoubtedly a accomplice I might select to play with.”
Hensby shot his second straight spherical of 3-under 67, ending the spherical together with his 14th and fifteenth birdies of the event. He’s 9-under par on the entrance 9 and three over on the again.
His 14th birdie got here on the par-3 eighth — a 20-foot putt which may have come from nearer had his tee ball not hit that of enjoying accomplice Doug Barron on the inexperienced. No. 15 got here on the par-5 ninth — the simplest gap on the course, the place he two-putted from 20 ft to climb into the tie for first.
Cink hit all 18 greens in regulation, making it 35 of 36 for the week. He known as that stat overrated, particularly at a course the place the true take a look at begins on the notoriously difficult-to-read greens that cant away from a monument lurking above the course on Cheyenne Mountain.
“You don’t wish to be chipping downhill on this course, it’s not a secret,” mentioned the 52-year-old Cink, the 2009 Open champion who’s enjoying in his first U.S. Senior Open.
Cink two-putted from 45 ft on No. 9 for his fifth birdie on the entrance and a rating of 66 — the perfect of the event to date.
After Harrington shot 31 on the harder again 9, then stored the lead at 5 with a birdie on the par-5 third, he was pondering there could be a chance to open an enormous lead heading into the weekend.
A pair of three-putts — one on the seventh and the opposite on the par-3 fourth inexperienced that has been slowed right down to mood the extreme slope — resulted in bogeys.
“I hoped I’d make extra of it,” Harrington mentioned. “I made a mis-club on 15 to make bogey, after which clearly going into the entrance 9 you’re hoping to make some birdies. Nothing is assured.”
However it ended effectively for the three-time main champion, whose wins got here at The Open 2007 and ‘08 and 2008 PGA Championship. Quick-sided in a greenside bunker on No. 9, Harrington made a 20-footer for a birdie to drag right into a tie.
“I acquired a beautiful learn off Stewart. I don’t suppose I might have given it as a lot break, in order that was good,” mentioned Harrington, who gained the U.S. Senior Open in 2022. “They’re the breaks you get when issues are going effectively.”
Amongst those that missed the lower had been 12-time senior main champion Bernhard Langer, who shot 77, and Angel Cabrera, a two-time main winner this yr, who shot 75; each missed the quantity by three.
David Toms, the champion the final time the Senior Open got here to the Broadmoor in 2018, hit an method to five ft on 18 for birdie to make the lower on the quantity.
However the headliners Saturday are Harrington and Cink, whose largest conferences earlier than this weekend could have been in a single Ryder Cup foursomes match in 2002 and one other fourball contest in 2004. (Cink gained each instances.)
“I like watching him play. I might hope that he most likely feels equally about me,” Cink mentioned. “We’ve mutual respect for one another. He’s a world-class participant and he’s been doing it a very long time. I might find it irresistible if we may go the space right here.”
