COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Padraig Harrington got here out on prime of a significant championship that felt extra like match play, closing his spherical Sunday with seven straight pars on the U.S. Senior Open to prime Stewart Cink by one shot.
Taking part in alongside Cink for the fourth straight day, Harrington shot 3-under 67 to complete at 11-under 269 on the difficult, closely sloping Broadmoor. The Irishman sealed this match by hitting his method to eight toes on No. 18, placing strain on Cink, who trailed by one however sat 30 yards in entrance of him on the golf green.
Cink’s method landed on the precipice of a ledge, however spun backward and did not come to relaxation till it was 35 toes away to arrange a two-putt.
That made it benefit Harrington, who additionally two-putted to seal the win, although the final snort went to the Broadmoor.
Minutes earlier, Cink had seems to be within 6 toes to tie on Nos. 16 and 17. The one on 16 slid to the left, the one on 17 burned the sting and stayed proper. Cink, who hit extra greens over 72 holes than anybody (64), however downplayed the significance of that on this course, turned out to be proper.
It truly is the putter that issues. Cink wanted two greater than Harrington on the fourth day of their showdown — the distinction between successful and shedding.
Harrington gained his second U.S. Open title in 4 years, including that to a trophy case that additionally contains the 2007 and ’08 British Opens and the 2008 PGA.
The one participant who threatened to get within the combine on this two-man present was Miguel Angel Jiménez. After opening with bogey, Jimenez made eight bridies to tug inside a shot of the lead.
However he yanked his tee shot effectively left on No. 18, needed to punch out and made bogey. He nonetheless shot the most effective spherical of the event, a 6-under 64, and completed in third, two photographs again.
The opposite participant within the Cink-Harrington group — gamers teed off in threesomes to beat the climate — was Mark Hensby.
Celebrating his 54th birthday, Hensby could not conjure any of the magic that led to 19 birdies over the primary three days and a share of the lead. He solely made two Sunday and shot 3-over 73 to tie for fourth at 5 underneath with Thomas Bjorn.
Harrington’s signature shot was his final birdie of the day — a 12-footer on the par-4 eleventh that put him at 11 underneath. It was a straight-in look, one of many only a few anybody will get on this golf course.
However actually, it might need come lower than 24 hours earlier when he chipped in from 20 yards off the inexperienced for a birdie that tied him with Cink heading into the ultimate day, setting them up with the identical tee time for the fourth straight time and establishing a match-play scene that got here all the way down to the ultimate shot.