Longtime rivals Stewart Cink, Padraig Harrington hope to ‘go the distance’ at U.S. Senior Open

COLORADO SPRINGS — The wisp drifted in from the same spot it has all week, a hint of grey poking its head over the ridges of The Horns before hovering angry over the back greens of The Broadmoor.

Below them, Stewart Cink and Padraig Harrington could see it meant trouble.

For 17 holes, two friendly rivals had locked step-for-step in another duel in the same pairing, the 53-year-old Harrington and 52-year-old Cink’s stories intertwined. Harrington won the 2007 and ’08 U.S. Open; Cink won in 2009. Both share a mighty long game, and a respect for that respective game. And both walked to their final hole Friday morning unwilling to give an inch, tied and pacing the early field at six-under at the U.S. Senior Open.

“It doesn’t drive you crazy whatsoever, because I thrive on it,” Cink said when asked if he was frustrated he couldn’t separate from Harrington. “We love it.”

Above them, though, thunder crackled.

Oh boy, Cink recalled thinking, we’re going to be close here.

Both, for a minute, actually considered rushing their subsequent strokes simply to beat the Colorado storm. Harrington actually did. And he wound up careening his second shot into a sand trap.

When the sky opened up not minutes later at the Broadmoor Golf Club, though, a screeching 1 p.m. alarm signaled a long stoppage of play in the second round of the Senior Open — and a long chasm between the rest of the field and the two competitors. Cink came alive down the stretch for the second day in a row, sinking five birdies in his final nine holes. Harrington spun some Irish magic from that 18th-hole bunker, chipping himself back onto the green and then burying a long putt to make par.

As fat raindrops sent onlookers scurrying for cover, the two course partners finished with respective 66 and 67 scores on the day and knotted at six-under atop the early leaderboard.

“He’s a world-class player, and he’s been doing it a long time,” Cink said of Harrington. “I would love it if we could go the distance here.”

They’ve nipped at each other’s heels now for 36 holes in Colorado Springs, just as they’ve done for decades. Cink, an Alabama native, and Harrington competed for years in the 2000s, representing their respective countries in the Ryder Cup. In 2007, Cink downed Harrington by exactly one hole at the now-defunct World Match Play Championship.

And as Cink stepped into the second day of his first Senior Open, Harrington pushed an early lead Friday with a remarkable 31 on the back nine, a section of the course few entrants had been able to solve.

“I sensed that Padraig was starting to separate himself from all of us, especially me,” Cink said.

He made up ground quickly, hitting every green across his 18 holes and wielding a blazing putter. By the time Harrington dumped that second shot into the sand on the course’s ninth hole, Cink was poised to head into Saturday’s moving day as top dog.

But the two mainstays of the game are far from bitter rivals. Their families are close, Cink said. In 2019, Harrington pointed to Cink as his best course partner, saying he was somebody he’d “choose to play with.” And Cink’s final putt gave Harrington a direct template of his own, tapping in a beauty to ensure the two stayed even.

“I got a lovely read off Stewart,” Harrington said. “I don’t think I would have given it as much break, so that was nice.”

The rest of their morning group continued to lag behind, aside from 2009 PGA Championship winner Y.E. Yang, who finished the day with a score of 68 and 2-under overall. Many who hadn’t finished their 18 holes were whiplashed into action after the midday thunder cleared. Former World No. 1 Ernie Els said golfers got a text to be ready to return to the course in seven minutes.