Padraig Harrington (-11) has won the US Senior Open, the fourth Major of the season for senior golf, after carding a final round of 67 strokes, three under par for the day, and finishing one stroke ahead of Stewart Cink (-10) and two ahead of Miguel Ángel Jiménez (-9), who was one of the main protagonists of the day. The Spaniard started today four strokes behind the co-leaders (Harrington and Cink) and was still on the 18th tee at the Broadmoor Golf Club with a very serious chance of victory…
Jiménez, who had started the Sunday round with a bogey on the 1st hole, immediately unleashed a storm of good play and birdies, to the point of carding the best score of the day and the tournament (64), with an impressive eight-under stretch between holes 3 and 16. Indeed, he reached the 72nd hole of the tournament with all doors open, just one stroke behind the leader, but he missed the fairway to the left on this par 4, sending the ball into thick rough, from where he couldn’t reach the green in two.
The fact is that the man from Malaga spent a good while debating whether he could hit a long iron from that rough to clear the water hazard and reach the green, but he wisely decided (as the ball was in a terrible lie in the tall grass) to play it back to the fairway and try to save par, at least forcing the leaders not to make mistakes. The Spaniard ended up missing a four-metre par putt, leaving a bigger margin for Harrington and Cink, who were coming up behind. The Irishman still gave himself a splendid birdie chance on the 18th, but ended up winning the tournament with seven consecutive pars, which are practically invaluable in any tournament under the USGA banner…
It is the second senior major for Harrington and also his second US Senior, having already won it in 2022. Today, aside from the charge led by Jiménez in the group ahead, the Irishman maintained a fierce battle with Stewart Cink, but a bogey by the American on the 15th hole ultimately decided the winner.
The next big event for these legends will be The Senior Open, which will take place from 24th to 27th July at Sunningdale Golf Club. There, Jiménez will be the favourite to claim his fourth senior major and will likely face Harrington again, who is desperately seeking a victory in this Major after finishing second on two occasions.
