The two old golfing buddies relived their best days. Pádraig Harrington and Stewart Cink – both Claret Jug holders in their prime and with exemptions into the 153rd Open at Royal Portrush looming – went toe-to-toe in the second round of the US Senior Open and reached the midpoint at Colorado Springs at the foot of the Rockies locked together, inseparable.
Harrington, a winner of the US Senior Open in 2022, shot a second round 67 and Cink a 66 for a 36-holes total of 134, six-under-par, three shots clear of Mark Hensby, and the duo – playing together – only completed their work minutes before a siren blared to suspend play due to lightning in the air.
In his quest for a second US Senior title, the 53-year-old Dubliner holed a 20 footer for birdie on the ninth, his finishing hole, to join Cink in a share of the midway lead.
Harrington started on the 10th and claimed birdies at the 10th, 12th, 13th and 17th with a sole bogey at the 15th to turn in 31 and added a birdie on the third to move into the outright lead only to drop shots at the fourth and seventh and then rejoin Cink in a share of the lead with a closing birdie.
US-based Ballymena native Chris Devlin, who came through the qualifying tournaments to earn a place in the field, rediscovered his putting touch. Having suffered a number of three putts in his opening round, Devlin bounced back with a 67 to add to his opening 75 for 142 to move inside the cut line.
On the LPGA Tour, Leona Maguire – the headline act at next week’s KPMG Irish Women’s Open at Carton House – continued a strong partnership with American Jennifer Kupcho to move into the clubhouse lead at the halfway stage of the Dow Championship in Minnesota, where the duo shot a second round four-ball better-ball 60 for a 36-holes total of 13-under-par 127, two shots clear of American Sarah Schmeizel and Swiss player Albane Valenzuela.
Maguire bounced back from four straight missed cuts on the LPGA Tour with a top-20 in last week’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and appears to have found some form headed into an important part of the season.
Having opened with a 67 in the foursomes, Maguire and Kupcho moved into the lead with a 60 that saw the two complement each other.
“The plan today was just to give ourselves as many chances as we could, try to get two chances on every hole. For the most part, we did that. It was nice to start off with a birdie and sort of an eagle very early on to get the ball rolling. Jen made a nice birdie on 18 to sort of keep the momentum going through the turn. Overall, quite a fun day,” said Maguire.
“You’re trying to hit a lot of fairways, a lot of greens, and just give yourself some good chances. Jen’s a little bit longer off the tee than me, so trying to take advantage of her length where we can. Did that in foursomes well yesterday. Today was steady, there wasn’t a lot of risk/reward to it with one being aggressive and one not. We tried to give ourselves two chances on every hole and it dovetailed pretty nicely.
“I think we executed pretty well yesterday. So more of the same (headed into the weekend). I mean, the game plan didn’t change drastically today, so same as we did yesterday, a lot of fairways, a lot of greens. It was nice to see some putts go in today, so try to bring that into tomorrow as best we can.”
