Pádraig Harrington came out on top of a major championship that felt more like match play, closing his round Sunday with seven straight pars at the U.S. Senior Open to top Stewart Cink by one shot.
Playing alongside Cink for the fourth straight day, Harrington shot a three-under 67 to finish at 11-under on the tricky, heavily sloping Broadmoor. The Irishman sealed this match by hitting his approach to eight feet on No. 18, putting pressure on Cink, who trailed by one but sat 30 yards in front of him on the fairway.
Cink’s approach landed on the precipice of a ledge, but spun backward and didn’t come to rest until it was 35 feet away to set up a two-putt.
That made it advantage Harrington, who would have the simple task of two-putting to seal the win, though the last laugh went to the Broadmoor.
Minutes earlier, Cink had looks from inside of six feet to tie on Nos. 16 and 17. The one on 16 slid to the left, the one on 17 burned the edge and stayed right. Cink, who hit more greens over 72 holes than anyone (64), but downplayed the importance of that on this course, turned out to be right.
It really is the putter that matters. Cink needed two more than Harrington on the fourth day of their showdown — the difference between winning and losing.
Played at extreme altitude – 1,900 metres above sea level – club selection was a challenge all week but Harrington felt that he handled the difficulties in club selection well all week.
“I think ultimately, whatever number you pick, you’ve just got to commit to it, be confident and go with it and accept maybe the odd few mistakes during the week,” Harrington said. “You’ll probably find that I made the least of them, or got the least of the bad breaks. But that’s golf, isn’t it?”
Harrington won his second Senior U.S. Open title in four years, adding that to a trophy case that also includes The Open Championship in 2007 and ’08, as well as the 2008 PGA Championship, and the victory also guarantees him a place in the USGA’s showpiece event – the U.S. Open – at Shinnecock Hills in 2026.
The expert analysis of @padraig_h‘s final round from the man himself! pic.twitter.com/FnXJJcrKH8
— USGA (@USGA) June 29, 2025
The only player who threatened to get in the mix in this two-man show was Miguel Angel Jiménez. After opening with bogey, Jiménez made eight bridies to pull within a shot of the lead.
But he yanked his tee shot well left on No. 18, had to punch out and made bogey. He still shot the best round of the tournament, a 6-under 64, and finished in third, two shots back.
The other player in the Cink-Harrington group — players teed off in threesomes to beat the weather — was Mark Hensby.
Celebrating his 54th birthday, Hensby couldn’t conjure any of the magic that led to 19 birdies over the first three days and a share of the lead. He only made two Sunday and shot 3-over 73 to tie for fourth at 5 under with Thomas Bjørn.
Harrington’s signature shot was his last birdie of the day — a 12-footer on the par-4 11th that put him at 11 under. It was a straight-in look, one of the very few anyone gets on this golf course.
But really, it might have come less than 24 hours earlier when he chipped in from 20 yards off the green for a birdie that tied him with Cink heading into the final day, setting them up with the same tee time for the fourth straight time and setting up a match-play scene that came down to the final shot.
Darren Clarke finished tied for 18th on +2.
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