Harrington outlasts Cink to win third U.S. Senior Open title
COVER PHOTO: Padraig Harrington acknowledges the crowd at the 18th hole during the final round of the 2026 U.S. Senior Open at Scioto Country Club in Columbus, Ohio. Picture by: Jeff Haynes/USGA.
In what looked to be a nail-biting final round of the 46th annual U.S. Senior Open on Sunday turned into a rabbit race by defending champion Padraig Harrington as he outlasted playing mate Stewart Cink to win the event by four strokes at 12-under par and take home his third Francis D. Ouimet Memorial Trophy.
"It feels great, but obviously there wasn't the drama that I know we normally provide down the stretch (but) that doesn't mean that I wasn't feeling it," Harrington said.
The 54-year-old Irishman became only the second player in USGA history to win three Senior Open titles. The first was Miller Barber, who won in 1982, '84 and '85.
It was something Harrington didn't realize.
"I wasn't sure if it was the score I tied, but ... I like creating records," he said. "And to be part of that is a big deal. It just goes to show how hard it is."
Cink was obviously less than thrilled with his round.
"Today, as it turned out, I played poor enough where there was really not a championship on the line," said Cink. "Golf got hard for me today and it happens."
He also said his mind wasn't in the right place coming into the tournament and his confidence was lacking.
"I'd been off for quite a while, and my practice coming into it had just not really been all that great. I had done a lot of it, but it just wasn't that good quality."
Cink entered Sunday with a one-stroke lead but it was Harrington who was immediately feeling it with birdies on the first two holes and parring the third while Cink parred no. 1 and put up back-to-back bogeys on nos. 2 and 3 to give Harrington a three-stroke advantage within the first three holes.
"It changed everything around (and) I went from being one behind to three ahead," Harrington said. "You know, I just hit nice shots the first couple of holes. That helps."
The lead tightened back to two on no. 5 when Harrington pushed his 12-foot putt a few inches to the right and settled for a bogey while Cink sank a 15-footer to save par after scrambling out of the rough on his second shot.
However, Harrington posted his third birdie of the day on the very next hole after putting his eagle putt to within a foot of the cup. Cink would par and the lead would grow back to three but would shrink again on par-4, no. 7 when Harrington had to scramble out of the left, fairway rough to save par but Cink sank about a 15-footer for birdie to once again close the gap to two.
However, Harrington said he felt par-4, no. 8 was an important hole.
"I won't say it was over from there on in, but it gave me a great platform to close it out," Harrington said.
He cleanly placed his tee shot 292 yards into the middle of the fairway while Cink sunk his shot in the drink. Harrington's second shot would land on the green but 30 feet away from the hole. Cink's third shot (after the penalty stroke) landed 40 feet away and his par putt came up about five or six feet shy but he managed to sink the bogey from there. Harrington, however would drain his 30-footer and extend the lead to four and it would never shrink less than that again.
He may have been shy to admit it but it was ultimately the one that put the space he needed between Cink and their third playing mate, George McNeill.
"It's a hole which you feel you can mess up on, and to come off making a birdie putt ... it does help every round, and it helps the tournament no end."
Cink tried to look at the bright side of the round and said at least there was a battle for runner-up, which he was the benefactor of for the second year in a row.
"It's always fun going down the stretch with a lot on the line but I was still battling hard for second."
Indeed it was a race for second place with Cink and McNeill, fighting it out. Ultimately, Cink would never relinquish second place to McNeill at any point in the round, with the closest they got being tied at 7-under after the tenth hole. From there, Cink would go bogey-free while McNeill carded two bogeys and a birdie to finish two strokes behind Cink, who tipped his cap to Harrington for besting him in the event, yet again.
"All in all, Padraig played great. He was going to be hard to beat the way he was playing. He's been such a great competitor. I've had so much respect for him for a long time, and I'm happy that he's going to be the winner."
Out of the $4 million purse, Harrington's payday is $800,000 while Cink will collect $432,000. McNeill won $258,746.
Haymes Snedeker, the only amateur to make the cut and the first to do so in three years, finished tied for 36 at 4-over, but said to make the cut was an honor.
"I didn't know that until a couple of friends sent it to me off Twitter and sent me a screenshot. I'm completely proud of that accolade. But I'm really shocked. There's so many great senior players. It's been a few years since they've made a cut; that's surprising to me. But what an honor it is, especially on a course like this, to pull that off."
OTHER NOTABLES
The following is a list of the remaining top 11 guys and their payout.
4: Ian Poulter = (-5)/275; $181,376
T-5: Retief Goosen, Jamie Donaldson, Paul Stankowski = (-4)/276; $135,260
T-8: Miguel Angel Jiménez, Pat Perez, Darren Clarke = (-3)/277; $98,650
T-11: Ernie Els, Henrik Stenson, John Rollins = (+2)/278; $76,202