Pádraig Harrington wins US Senior Open for second time

The Irishman hit a final round total of -3 to finish on -11. The victory means he has qualified to play in next year’s US Open at Shinnecock.

Sun, 29 Jun, 2025 - 21:16

Scott Michaux

Coping with altitude that played tricks with distance and greens that played tricks on your mind, Pádraig Harrington carefully negotiated all of Broadmoor Golf Club’s challenges to prevail over Stewart Cink and Miguel Angel Jimenez to win his second US Senior Open championship.

“It’s a beautiful trophy indeed,” a relieved Harrington said of the oldest USGA trophy he earned by one shot over Cink after holding fast with a string of seven closing pars in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

With his second U.S. Senior Open title, Harrington is qualified to play in next year’s US Open at Shinnecock.

It proved to be nip and tuck down the stretch as Harrington grabbed the lead with a birdie and two-shot swing on 11 when Cink bogeyed to flip the lead, and he withstood threats from both Cink and Jimenez in the closing holes.

A major champion once again!

Padraig Harrington wins the 2025 U.S. Senior Open! pic.twitter.com/uby4D06cwQ
— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) June 29, 2025

Harrington stopped making birdies after the 11th hole and grew concerned that he was going to get chased down. Despite his habit of not paying attention to leaderboards, he decided it was time to know what was going on.

“You start worrying about things you can’t control if you look,” Harrington said. “There’s a point in every round of golf or every Sunday round of golf that you need to know how you stand. I knew enough that I’m nip and tuck with Stewart, we’re out in front. If myself and Stewart had got to 12, 13-under or something like that, I wouldn’t have even asked if anybody else was in it. I would have known it was just me and Stewart.

“But when we stalled at 11 and 10, I started to feel, okay, some of the other guys might catch up with us. I needed to know if I needed to press or if I just needed to stay ahead of Stewart.” Turns out, Miguel Angel Jimenez made a charge from behind to get within a shot before a bogey on 18 ended the Spaniard’s bid.

“I asked my caddie just who was coming. When he told me Jimenez was 9 – I didn’t know he ever got to 10, but he told me he was 9 – I was worried,” Harrington said. “He birdied the last two to beat Steve (Alker) last week. He’s just on that run. If there’s anybody right at this moment that’s going to birdie the last couple holes to win a tournament, it’s Miguel.”

For the most part, however, Harrington was locked in a week-long duel with former Open champion Stewart Cink that grew tenser on the back nine at the Broadmoor. Cink and Harrington ended up playing all four rounds together.

“Obviously in 2007 I played with Stewart when I won my first major,” Harrington said of his Open win at Carnoustie. “Yeah, he’s very comfortable to play with. We have very similar games. Very easygoing. I would say for 63 holes we talked a lot and for the last nine holes things were a little quieter. It was always in good spirit. Mark Hensby was excellent as well. So those are the breaks you need when you’re out there winning.”

Cink grabbed a share of the lead again with a birdie on 14 but fell right back with a bogey on 15. While Harrington held his nerve with a string of closing pars – the lone scramble being a smooth up-and-down on 17 amidst some good-look birdie misses – Cink missed birdie chances from about 6 feet on 16 and 17 that could have changed the outcome.

Up one at the last, Harrington hit a perfect drive and approach to 8 feet after encouraging advice from caddie Ronan Flood.

“I was walking up to the ball and I said, ‘Look, Ro, if I make birdie I win. Takes everything else out the equation,” Harrington said. “Ro just said something that I had heard from Hale Irwin over the years. Always hit the shot that you would hit if you were one shot behind.

“So if you're one shot behind you would hit up there, take it on. Clearly, it puts you in the right frame of mind that you're making the right decision. Because do you play into the middle of the green and play it safe and hope you two putt? What you hit when you're one shot behind, you go for it, hit it up there, and you take your chances. I was happy I hit a good shot.”

Once Cink’s long birdie putt on 18 missed, Harrington just needed to two-putt from 8 feet to win.

“It’s frustrating because I hit really good iron shots there to put myself in position to get up there and force Harrington to make a little bit more of a heroic finish than just pars,” Cink said. “But it wasn’t to be. I don’t know, that’s Broadmoor for you. I wish I could have those two putts over.

“We were just neck and neck pretty much the whole way, all the way through the second half of the tournament. Today was no exception. It was back and forth.”