Harrington upbeat as final hole chip-in gives him share of US Senior Open lead

Padraig Harrington overcame a mini back-nine wobble by chipping in for birdie at the last to snatch a three-way share of the lead heading into the final round of the US Senior Open Championship in Colorado Springs.

Winner of the title in 2022, Harrington’s pitch from just short of the 18th green looked to be going long when it hit the pin dead centre and dropped.

“I was pleased with the chip,” said Harrington, who matched Stewart Cink by racing to the turn in 32 before a double bogey at the 12th and a three-putt bogey at the 15th left him trailing the American by one and Australian Mark Hensby by two. “And it was a big bonus that it went in.”

Cink and Hensby went on to card two under 68s as Harrington matched them with his chip to leave the halfway leaders still tied at the top on eight under, a shot clear of Dane Thomas Bjorn, who shot 66.

“Obviously we would have all liked if we got a little bit more under, but it did get tricky there with that wind start swirling around, and I certainly lost a bit of trust on the green,” Harrington said. 

“It was tough coming home, so it was a nice bonus for me. 

“As I said to the three lads, we could have taken the day off and just gone out as the three leaders tomorrow.”

There was a 32-minute weather delay at The Broadmoor’s East Course, where wind and temperature switches led to several lead changes.

Cink (52) matched Harrington by shooting four-under 32 on the front nine and briefly held the outright lead early on the more difficult back nine before making bogeys at the 13th and 16th. 

“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.”

Hensby, who wants to celebrate his 54th birthday today by hoisting the Francis D. Ouimet Memorial Trophy, briefly took the outright lead at the 16th only to bogey the 534-yard, downhill 17th, which is the longest par-four in US Senior Open history.

“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 missed a six-footer for birdie on the last to take the outright lead. 

“Fortunately, some things started to go my way, [and I] got a couple of nice breaks.” 

Bjorn (54), who won the American Family Insurance Championship with Darren Clarke two weeks ago and finished runner-up in last month’s Senior PGA Championship, is just a stroke back after matching the lowest round of the week with a 66.

“It's always great to chip in,” said Harrington, who has yet to win on the PGA Tour Champions this season. 

“It was great to chip in on the last hole. It was straightforward on the green, but I was chipping against the grain. There was quite a bit of grain on that slope. So getting good contact was never going to be easy.”

Clarke shot 73 to share 19th on two over while Ballymena’s Chris Devlin, one of four players who made the cut after surviving local and final qualifying, was 62nd on 10 over after a third-round 78.

Harrington, Cink and Hensby will tee off at 8:50 a.m. local time (3:50 pm Irish time).