COLUMBUS, Ohio — Two players will be chasing history in Sunday’s final round of the 46th U.S. Senior Open while a third will be trying to change his personal history in the championship while also seeking to set a record.
After a record-tying 64 Saturday at Scioto Country Club, Stewart Cink carries a one-stroke lead over defending champion Padraig Harrington after 54 holes. Cink’s bogey-free round, which tied the low round in a USGA event at Scioto, gave him a nine-under 201 total. The 53-year-old from Georgia is going for his third straight senior major title. No player has won the first three senior majors of the season.
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Harrington, 54, who defeated Cink by one stroke a year ago at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colo., saved bogey at the last for a 66. He is vying to become the fourth player to successfully defend a U.S. Senior Open title and win his third overall, which would match Miller Barber’s record.
“Today was a day about making the choice to be committed and be willing to accept anything. That has a tendency to free me up. When I play freed up, it’s just the results are usually a lot better, and executing is a lot better,” said Cink, who can join Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Bernhard Langer and Steve Stricker with a third senior major in one year. “Today was a good day. I’d like to bottle some of that up because it’s something that golf doesn’t always offer you. But today I took advantage of it.”
Tee times will be moved forward on Sunday for the second day in a row with the expectation of afternoon thunderstorms.
Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez, 62, finished third a year ago at The Broadmoor and was runner-up by one stroke to Gene Sauers here at Scioto in 2016. Jimenez bogeyed 16 and 18, but he still managed a 67 and six-under 204 total, one behind PGA Tour Champions rookie George McNeill, who shot 69 after holding the 36-hole lead. Jimenez seeks to become the oldest winner of the Francis D. Ouimet Memorial Trophy.
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Darren Clarke also was bogey-free Saturday to post 64 after an early-morning shower softened the Scioto layout. He and Cink eclipsed the previous low round in a USGA championship at Scioto, a 65 by Vinny Giles in the 1968 U.S. Amateur. Clarke moved up 36 spots into a tie for fifth at 207 with Paul Stankowski, who shot 68.
Cink and Herrington will reprise their duel from a year ago when the two shared the 54-hole lead, and the Hall of Fame golfer from Ireland emerged with the victory.
“Yeah, it does tend to give a little bit of a special flair about sort of head-to-head thing,” Cink said. “But the scoring … George is only one shot back of Padraig, and then it goes one more shot back [to Jimenez]. It’s not a two-horse race at all. That would be naïve to think we could play like that. But to play Harrington, he’s such a great player, and I’ve admired his game for so long. I think we both kind of bring good out of each other.”
“I’ve done it a few times with Stewart, yeah,” said Harrington, winless this year and coming off a playoff loss to Dicky Pride in last week’s Dick’s Open. “Look, it’s one of those things … there’s lots of cliches in it. You’ve got to play your own game, knuckle down and do your thing. As I said, there will be ebbs and flows. Somebody is going to get a good stretch of holes. Could be two-shot swings on a hole. Who knows. There’s always that sort of thing. You just have to play your own game, do your own thing.”
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