Pádraig Harrington was pleased with how he stuck at things after back to back closing birdies got his US Senior Open hat trick bid off to a good start on a topsy turvy day at Scioto Country Club.
Harrington’s one-under 69 leaves him in a share of sixth place and he is just two shots off the early lead held by Charlie Wi and 2009 Open champion Stewart Cink.
The defending champion described himself as a bit “mad” in his pre-tournament press conference and his opening round could be categorised as just that as he flirted with going out of contention altogether. After picking up his first birdie on the par-3 9th, Harrington dropped three shots in a row from the 10th, including taking four to get down from green side of the par-5 11th in two. A birdie on 13 was a momentum shifter and he backed that up with birdies on 17 and 18 to turn a poor day into a good one.
“I missed a few on the first nine holes, just very cautious. Then I got a bad break — didn’t hit a good tee shot, got a bad break on 10, not a great break on 11. I’m not saying I deserved anything better. And then took four shots — I actually ended up with a bogey on the par-5 after missing the green with my second shot.
“Yeah, it wasn’t looking good at that stage. I think the fact it’s 72 holes and it’s a U.S. Open, and I was telling myself to stick in there, stick in there. Getting that birdie back straightaway on 13 was big. It doesn’t always work out that way, but I was thinking, if I could get birdie one of the last two holes it would be a bit of a steal to get in at level par. Clearly making two birdies in the last two is going to make for a very sweet lunch and the rest of the day.”
The 54-year-old three-time major winner admits he did feel some extra pressure when teeing off on Thursday as defending champion.
“There’s definitely pressure when you’re defending. You feel like you’re already leading the tournament, so you have that pressure no doubt. That’s probably why for the first six holes I was very cautious.”
Harrington is joined in sixth place by Soren Kjeldsen, Ben Crane, Alex Cejka, Richard Green, Jamie Donaldson, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Greg Chalmers, Paul Stankowski and Tommy Gainey.
It was a good day for the Irish contingent overall with Chris Devlin impressing in a level-par 70 while 2011 Open champion Darren Clarke is a shot further back.
At the top, Cink got off to a great start in his bid to win his third straight senior major.
Cink was the only player to make five birdies on the back nine at Scioto Country Club on Thursday, shooting a 3-under 67 for a share of the lead with Wi.
“I’ve been off for a little while, and I started like I’ve been off for a little while. I had to prove it to myself again that I could play decent golf a certain way,” Cink said. “The back nine was really nice. I actually could have shot quite a bit lower on the back nine. I missed three very reasonably like inside — right around 10 feet or less birdie putts.”
Wi rocketed alongside Cink thanks to a run of five straight birdies although he did double bogey the 8th – his 17th. He is the 14th player in the 46-year history of the U.S. Senior Open to have at least five straight birdies in a round.
“I hit the ball pretty solid today, made a couple of putts. It was a hot day. I just made sure that I stayed in the ballgame, meaning like mentally, because you could easily lose it out there,” he said.
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