Padraig Harrington rather enjoys setting records.
The 2024 inductee to the World Golf Hall of Fame tied Miller Barber by winning his third U.S. Senior Open on Sunday at Scioto Country Club in Columbus, Ohio.
Harrington shot a Sunday-best round of 4-under-par 66 and finished at 12-under 268, four strokes ahead of Stewart Cink and six better than George McNeill.
Harrington also defended his title from a year ago, when he won at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. The Irishman captured his first U.S. Senior Open crown in 2022.
“I like creating records, and to be part of that is a big deal,” said Harrington. “It just goes to show how hard it is.”
The 54-year-old already sees younger players like Cink and Zach Johnson emerging on the scene and understands he has limited time to gather more hardware.
“Now I’m seeing guys coming along, and I’m kind of realizing there is only a window to win these tournaments,” Harrington said. “They have told me, other players, that it’s kind of up to about 56, 57, then it starts going downhill pretty quickly.”
Harrington trailed Cink by one stroke entering the final round, but took the lead with birdies on the first two holes and never looked back. Harrington birdied the par-4, 470-yard second hole by hitting his approach to 3 feet and sinking the putt. Cink could not reach the green from a fairway bunker and ended up making a bogey for a two-shot swing.
Cink also bogeyed the third hole, giving Harrington a three-stroke lead. Harrington momentarily stumbled, bogeying No. 5, but birdied Nos. 6 and 8 to gain complete control with a four-stroke advantage. Harrington curled in a 30-foot putt on the par-4 eighth, the toughest hole on the course.
He played the final 13 holes in 3 under, taking any drama out of the finishing holes.
“It’s different, I’ve got to say,” said Harrington, who won for the first time in 2026. “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, I hit some big shots coming on the way home to take all the stress out of it.”
After posting a 6-under round of 64 on Saturday, Cink stumbled to a 1-over 71 on Sunday and finished at 8 under par. He bemoaned his play in an otherwise outstanding campaign.
“I wanted to play well and set myself up for the rest of the year,” said Cink. “I just — golf got hard for me today, and it happens. It’s been a while since I had a day like that where start to finish it pretty much felt difficult, but today it kind of did, and my scorecard pretty much tells the story.”
McNeill also carded a 71 to earn third place at 6 under, while England’s Ian Poulter (67) finished fourth at 5 under and South Africa’s Retief Goosen (67) tied for fifth at 4 under with Jamie Donaldson of Wales (68) and Paul Stankowski (69).
McNeill had high praise for Harrington.
“Padraig, always been a world-class player. It’s not like he just showed up one day. He’s won, I forget how many majors on the regular tour, British and PGAs and now he has three or four majors out here on the Champions Tour.
“So, yeah, he did the right things. Hits the right shots. Hits it fairly straight. Good short game. Makes a lot of putts. He does what he’s supposed to do, what a good player, a world-class player, you would expect of him.”
Harrington will attempt to defend his Senior Open Championship title at Gleneagles in Scotland beginning on July 23.
