COLORADO SPRINGS — The groans erupted just a second after the roars, a throng of onlookers along the 18th hole at The Broadmoor caught in the throes of a photo finish.
By the time he paced out to the pond in front of a final-hole green, Stewart Cink had one last gasp remaining. One stroke down to the all-too-familiar Irishman he putted next to and chased for four straight days. One approach shot left, to set up a birdie and hope for a tie. He set up and looped a shot over the pond.
It plopped onto the green, a few feet from the hole, and a throng in the grandstands erupted.
OOOHHHHH!
And then, as if poked with an invisible pencil, it began to roll.
Ohhhhhhh.
For a week straight, virtually every golfer who’s taken a microphone at the U.S. Senior Open pointed to greens as difficult as any course in the country. The adjectives have flown. Wicked. Treacherous. And it was only fitting that a particularly treacherous slope on the 18th hole determined the winner of Sunday’s U.S. Senior Open, Cink’s second shot on a par-4 sliding to the far edge of the green and effectively killing his hopes.
A couple of putts and a tap-in for par later, and Padraig Harrington, the jolly World Golf Hall of Famer, plucked his ball out of the cup and raised his right hand to the crowd, the man who’d paced the field for four days holding off Cink to win his second Senior Open crown.
“I think, winning a U.S. Senior Open, or any tournament on the Champions Tour — it kind of validates the past in a lot of ways,” a beaming Harrington said after his win Sunday. “Genuinely, I know I’ve said this, you are reliving the past glories. You’re hitting shots, and you’re waving at the crowds, and people come out because they know you from the past.”
Padraig Harrington of Ireland and Stewart Cink of the United States walk to the 15th tee during the final round of the U.S. Senior Open Championship 2025 at Broadmoor Golf Club on June 29, 2025 in Colorado Springs. (Photo by Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)The 53-year-old Harrington was the most popular man on the course for four days, ever since he shot a 32 through his first nine holes Thursday and through a gritty seven straight pars down the stretch of a brutal back nine Sunday. The “atta boys” and the “come on, Padraigs” came flying from onlookers at nearly every stroll across the fairway, a man who once won two consecutive Open Championships and a PGA title experiencing another dosage of late-career glory.
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Sunday, though, was the furthest thing from a victory lap. This was a course, Harrington said earlier in the week, where you simply couldn’t sit in a clubhouse and plan your clubs for 18 holes. Each tee, each stroke, each green brought its own in-the-moment calculus, constantly changing variables from the softness of the grass to unpredictable weather.
Even as a thick, gray cloud hung over Harrington’s group, with Cink and Australian Mark Hensby tied with him at 8-under par heading into Sunday, the skies never opened. Still, it added a hint of danger to an already-tense trio.
Hensby pushed for three days, but twisted his mouth in dismay as putt after putt skidded just inches askew of holes. It left Harrington and Cink locked in a two-man race early. Most friendly banter had vanished, as Harrington threw his hands up in frustration before a couple of shots, when spectator noise infiltrated his preparation.
Cink’s sheer precision quickly stamped him a top contender at The Broadmoor, as he hit an unreal 35 of 36 greens across his first two days. When told of the statistic Friday, honorary chairman Hale Irwin remarked Cink “must be a psycho.”
“Sick,” Irwin said then. “The guy’s sick.”
Stewart Cink of the United States hits a tee shot on the 17th hole during the final round of the U.S. Senior Open Championship 2025 at Broadmoor Golf Club on June 29, 2025 in Colorado Springs. (Photo by Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)After sinking a putt for par on the 10th hole, Cink got a stroke on Harrington. And as the lead flipped back on subsequent holes, Cink put himself in prime position to nab the crown on the 16th and 17th with a sequence of beautiful tee and approach shots.
Twice, though, his short birdie putts — both would’ve tied Harrington — trickled off the cup.
“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,” he continued. “I wish I could have those two putts over.”
Harrington’s family watched anxiously, too, as Miguel Angel Jimenez mounted a miraculous run two groups ahead, putting in four birdies in the span of six holes on the back nine. Entering the 18th hole, Jimenez stood just a stroke back of Harrington at 10-under. But a wayward tee shot resulted in a bogey, setting up the final faceoff of a tournament-long faceoff between Cink and Harrington.
“Even though he’s a peer, he’s a guy I’ve always also looked up to because I’ve played with him so much,” Cink said, Harrington a frequent course partner throughout his career. “And I admire the way he — he kind of treats golf the way I want to treat golf myself. He’s in the present. He never gives up.”
Harrington did enough with a picture-perfect approach shot on 18 to raise the trophy with a final mark of 11-under. In 2018, David Toms won the title at the same venue with a 3-under. And as the grass settled on Sunday’s scintillating battle, both Harrington and Cink had set a new standard for Senior Opens to come, with the tournament set to return to The Broadmoor in 2031 and 2037.
“It was just a lot of fun out there,” Cink said, “trying to figure this place out.”
Padraig Harrington of Ireland reacts after winning the U.S. Senior Open Championship 2025 at Broadmoor Golf Club on June 29, 2025 in Colorado Springs. (Photo by Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver’s teams.
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