Columbus, Ohio – The man from Dublin did what he does best on Sunday at the 46th U.S. Senior Open Championship at Scioto Country Club. Padraig Harrington entered the final round one stroke behind Stewart Cink (who was trying for his third consecutive Senior Major of 2026, but the Irishman prevailed with a 4-under 66 to successfully defend the title (he won at The Broadmoor) with a 12-under-par 268 total. Cink finished four back after a final round 71 (272 total). Harrington is now a three-time winner of the Francis D. Ouimet Trophy (Miller Barber is the only other player to accomplish the feat). Besides Harrington, only Barber, Gary Player, and Allen Doyle have managed to defend the title.
Tee times were moved up for the second straight day due to forecasted thunderstorms in the afternoon over the Columbus area.
“It’s different, I’ve got to say,” said Harrington,.“It feels great, but obviously there wasn’t the drama that I know we normally provide down the stretch. That doesn’t mean that I wasn’t feeling it. I was really trying to stay in it, stay focused. I knew I had a nice lead which let me play to the middle of the greens, let me hit the shots. But I did hit some big shots coming on the way home to take all the stress out of it. I had a great week putting, which wow, golf is easier when you putt well.”
Cink had been on heater all season, and he had his chances for a third straight major in 2026, but Harrington also had won the 2025 Senior Open Championship at Sunningdale, in England, last July, and the U.S. Senior Open win in Colorado. Harrington came out enfuego with two quick birdies, while Cink bogeyed the second to two behind. The powerfully built Georgia Tech alum played the opposite of a popular credit card slogan: he hit it everywhere you don’t want to be.
Cink made par on eight straight holes on the inward side before making one at the last but still ending up short of Harrington for a second consecutive year. “Today, as it turned out, I played poor enough where there was really not a championship on the line, but I was still battling hard for second,” said Cink. “I wanted to play well and set myself up for the rest of the year. Golf got hard for me today. It happens. It’s been a while since I had a day like that where start-to-finish it pretty much felt difficult. “My scorecard pretty much tells the story.”
In the end, Harrington, 54 was just too much for the field to deal with – especially on the greens. He poured in a 15-footer for birdie on the opening hole… stuffed his approach at No. 2 to 5 feet to set up another, and never looked back. His lone blemish was a bogey at the fifth, in an otherwise mistake-free Sunday. Caddie Ronan Flood and his wife Caroline shared in the glory afterwards.
The 2027 U.S. Senior Open will be contested at Oak Tree National Golf Club, in Edmond, Okla., from July 1-4
Scores: https://championships.usga.org/ussenioropen/2026/scoring.html
