Hensby hangs tough with power pairing in US Senior Open

Perth Now

12 hours ago

Padraig Harrington and Stewart Cink endured the ups and downs of the US Senior Open together for a second straight day and found themselves tied for the lead.
The payoff - sharing the final tee time to kick off the weekend at the hilly, hard-to-read Broadmoor.
Cink made up five shots over the final nine holes of his head-to-head pairing against Harrington, and the players headed into the weekend tied at six-under 134, along with the late-charging Mark Hensby.
Cink shot 31 on the front nine, their second nine, to match Harrington's score on the back.
Both players - the only two who average more than 300 yards driving on the 50-and-over PGA Tour Champions - called it a comfortable pairing, especially on a hilly course at altitude where gauging distance is anything but routine.
"If anything, he'd be a little bit longer than me," Harrington said. "But I suppose I know his game enough that I can see what's happening, as well. He is definitely a partner I would choose to play with."
Hensby shot his second straight round of three-under 67, finishing the day with his 14th and 15th birdies of the tournament.
That included a 20-footer on No.8 that would have been from closer had his tee shot not hit Doug Barron's ball on the green. Hensby was nine-under par on the front nine and three over on the back after two days.
"Making a lot of birdies, so that's a good thing around here," the Australian said.
Three behind are Thomas Bjorn (69), followed by YE Yang (68) and Billy Andrade (69) at two under.
At one under, Darren Clarke, Steve Flesch and Miguel Angel Jimenez rounded out the list of nine players heading into the weekend under par.
Cink hit all 18 greens in regulation, making it 35 of 36 for the week. He called that stat overrated, especially at a course where the real test starts on the notoriously difficult-to-read greens that cant away from a monument lurking above the course on Cheyenne Mountain.
"You don't want to be chipping downhill on this course, it's not a secret," said the 52-year-old Cink, the 2009 British Open champion who is playing in his first US Senior Open.
Cink two-putted from 45 feet on No.9 for his fifth birdie on the front and a score of 66 - the best of the tournament so far.
After Harrington shot 31 on the more difficult back nine, then kept the lead at five with a birdie on the par-5 third, he was thinking there might be an opportunity to open a big lead heading into the weekend.
A pair of three-putts - one on the seventh and the other on the par-3 fourth green that has been slowed down to temper the severe slope - resulted in bogeys.
But it ended well for the three-time major champion, whose wins came at the 2007 British Open and the '08 British and PGA Championship.
Short-sided in a greenside bunker on No.9, Harrington made a 20-footer along the same line Cink had just putted for a birdie to head into the clubhouse in a tie.
"I got a lovely read off Stewart. I don't think I would have given it as much break, so that was nice," said Harrington, who won the US Senior Open in 2022. "They're the breaks you get when things are going well."
Australian Scott Hend (69) is tied 10th at even par, while Steven Alker and Stuart Appleby are a shot further back.
Among those missing the cut were 12-time senior major champion Bernhard Langer, who shot 77, and Angel Cabrera, a two-time major winner this year, who shot 75. Both missed the number by three.