COLORADO SPRINGS, CO — Padraig Harrington said he thought it was a good part and another part was a disappointing part, after digging into the tee shot deep into the woods of the 15th hole in the opening round at the US Senior Open.
Either way, that scramble placed Harrington on the leaderboard on Thursday, tied with Mark Hensby at Broadmoor’s 3-under 67.
“My head is scrambled a bit because I don’t feel good after losing the ball,” said 2022 champion Harrington. “You’re just trying to get what you’re doing in your mind.”
This course is a common sensation at a 6,000-foot altitude at the foot of Cheyenne Mountain. This is a sloped landscape that affects all putts in a way that all players can see.
Stewart Cink hit the first 17 greens on a mild first day, but after his first mistake he finished with a bogey on No. 18. He was part of a group of seven, including 68-year-old Thomas Bjorn.
“That’s not a course where you’re going to have four birdie putts in a row that’s like, ‘hoops, hoops, hoops, hoops, hoops, hoops, hoops,'” Sink said. “We had some putts that were 20 footers with eight or nine feet breaks, but you’re not going to make a lot of them.”
Harrington made all four birdies on the (easier) front nine, leading one by one when he snapped the tee shot on the par 4 15th. The Irishman said his disappointment came from the fact that he thought his group was doing a three-minute search in a bush of trees that was missing where the ball landed.
His relief came from going back to the teebox and hitting that shot with deep roughness on the right, then scrubbing the bogey after hitting an approach up to 20 feet from there.
“In general, you just kept yourself in that position and today I did it well,” Harrington said.
Hensby was also in good position, but it was difficult to convey in the aftermath of the bogie bogey finish during the morning waves.
“Obviously, I felt like I lost some there,” Hensby said. “It’s just frustrating. I played like s–(on)back nine. What else can I say?”
He made seven birdies on the front nine, reaching 6 under. This could potentially not be approached again on a course where 156 players on the field were only available under 17 rounds with 156 players.
When the tournament was last played in 2018, David Toms won with a 3-under par score. This made the nine scores even more noteworthy, whether he was happy with it or not.
“I wasn’t a very consistent player,” he said. “I’m cold even if it’s hot, so I smoke like that.”
Harrington was one of many players whose practice was shortened by massive thunderstorms that soaked and softened the course on Tuesday.
“We took a break today, to be fair,” Nott Begay said.
Despite that break, the score average on the first day was 73.94, with only about .7 shots in total over the four days of 2018.
Among those struggling is Angel Cabrera, the second-time senior major winner this year, shot a 73.
Cabrera’s 10-foot birdie skirted the No. 6 cup, dropped a putter and put his hand on his lap, trying to figure out how he missed. The hole feels more painful when the three footer barely captures the left edge.
The forecast for the next three days requires a high of nearly 90 and a possible rain. That mountain to the west of the course – it never changes.
“It’s not only difficult to hit the ball at right distance, whether it’s altitude, ups and downs, spins,” Sink said. “But you leave plenty of 20, 25 feet putts with lots of breaks and not always doing what they seem to be trying to do.”