COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Padraig Harrington made four birdies Thursday, though it was the bogey he saved after losing a tee shot deep in a thicket of trees on the 15th hole that helped him keep a share of the first-round lead with Mark Hensby at the U.S. Senior Open.
The leaders shot 3-under 67 for a one-shot edge over a group of six, including Stewart Cink, who hit the first 17 greens before making bogey after coming up short on No. 18.
Calgary's Stephen Ames was at 2-over 72 and Dave Bunker of Brampton, Ont., was at 7-over 77. Mike Weir of Bright's Grove, Ont., was at 8-over 78.
Harrington, the 2022 U.S. Senior champion, made all four birdies on the (easier) front nine at the Broadmoor and was leading by one when he snapped his tee shot on the par-4 15th deep into the woods. The Irishman took a cart back to the tee box for his third shot, then hit that into the right rough.
His approach to 20 feet and the ensuing make limited the damage and he made three pars on the way in to stay atop the leaderboard.
It was quite a different scene for Hensby, who made seven birdies on his front nine and got to 6 under at the turn, but finished bogey-bogey for his 67. He looked and sounded anything like a leader of a major championship afterward.
“Obviously, I felt like I lost some out there,” Hensby said. “It’s just frustrating. I played like (expletive) the back nine. What else can you say?”
Hensby's bogeys each came after drives that missed the fairway and landed in rough that is thick — yet maybe not the biggest problem at this course nestled at the base of Cheyenne Mountain, which influences every putt.
“It's just a different version of what we saw at Oakmont, with really treacherous greens,” said Notah Begay, who made the field as an alternate and shot even par. “We got a break today, to be fair.”
It was, indeed, a calm, partly cloudy day less than 36 hours removed from a massive thunderstorm that soaked and softened the course. Even so, only 17 players finished under par with a few in the 156-man field still on the course as dusk approached.
When the tournament was last played here in 2018, David Toms won with a score of 3-under par — a number that made Hensby's 6 under after nine that much more remarkable.
But the Aussie, who shot 63 in the second round of last year's U.S. Open at Newport Country Club was more focused on the back nine.
“I’ve never been a very consistent player,” he said. “I’m hot or cold, and that kind of sucks. Certain shots I keep hitting during rounds, it just (ticks) me off, so to speak. So yeah, the back nine was just kind of a bit of that.”
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Eddie Pells, The Associated Press
