U.S. Senior Open Day 2 – The fight to make the cut

The Broadmoor is defending itself well against the best PGA Tour Champions

By Jim Bebbington

With afternoon rains now a familiar part of the week, the U.S. Senior Open field Friday took yet another rain delay in stride as they battled to make the cut.

Half the 156-player field left for home after Friday’s rounds. Two of the two-day leaders, PGA Tour veterans Padraig Harrington and Stewart Cink, putted out moments before the mid-day rain delay was called, tied at 6-under par. After a rain delay they were joined at 6-under by first-round co-leader Mark Hensby.

Harrington and Cink played together – Cink said he has been paired with Harrington throughout their careers more than with any other player – and began the round on the more-difficult back nine. Harrington went 2-under on the first nine holes, and was poised to take advantage of the easier front nine when he began three-putting some of the notoriously difficult greens. He said he felt he missed an opportunity to put some distance between himself and the field. He was five strokes up on Cink with seven holes to play, then Cink made five birdies on the back nine to tie.

“Most of Thursday and Friday is jockeying for position, keeping yourself in the tournament, trying not to lose the tournament, but after the start I had today, I could have got some daylight between myself and the field and got out there,” Harrington said. “I just have to go and do it all again the next two days.”

So far the course is playing as some predicted. Cink and Harrington are two of the longest drivers on the PGA Tour Champions, and the longest hitters have the advantage of being able to come into the greens with higher-lofted clubs, taking much of the treacherous greens out of play.

“It’s all about keeping yourself in position on those greens, trying to stay underneath the hole,” Harrington said. “Knowing where you can attack pin positions, where are the right places to hit it.”

Cink said he didn’t feel he played well and was hoping for better this weekend.

“I just kept doing the same things I was doing and keeping the ball mostly in play, and if I was out of play, I was just in the rough,” he said. “I never was in a lot of trouble. Then a couple putts went in, (I) hit one close, two-putted a par-5 — two par-5s, and you look back and an hour and a half later you’ve got five birdies in the last seven holes or something. It was not like I dug deep and found anything. I just kept doing the same thing and patience was rewarded.”

Hensby said with some tough pin placements he tried Friday to be patient.

“I don’t think I fired at a flag on the back nine today, which was my first nine,” he said. “I was just trying get it to spots where I was comfortable two-putting or trying to two-putt from. Obviously that’s hard to do around here. But I think the pin positions dictate everything, what you’re going to do for the rest of this tournament. No, just go in and try and get ready. The biggest thing is being committed to what you’re doing.”

After two days many of the players said the course was set up fairly for the 50-and-over crowd playing it: tough by any other standard, but not as bad as a PGA Tour U.S. Open course. The rough is deep – but not abusive. The fairways and greens are fairly large. The greens are demonic, but that’s not anything they are taking personally; they know that’s the condition of The Broadmoor’s East Course greens at the best of times.

Brandt Jobe, a high school standout at Kent Denver School in the 1980s, finished his Friday round right on the cut-line – 5-over – and left his round unclear if he was packing to go home or staying for the weekend.

“I struggled,” he said. “My ball striking was pretty poor, especially with my irons the last two days.I just didn’t hit it well, so i didn’t have a lot of opportunities; I was playing defense out there.”

“It drives you nuts out there. The slope of the greens. The greens are soft and they’ve got a lot of the pins on top of some knobs, so it’s hard to keep the ball around the hole.”

This was important to me to be playing in this one; I don’t know how many more I’ll play in. So its nit to make sure if this is the last one I play in it’s a great place for it to be the last one.”

In the end both Jobe and Parker’s Shane Bertsch made the cut and will play this weekend.

Play resumes Saturday morning at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs.

Jim Bebbington is the Director of Content at Colorado AvidGolfer and can be reached at [email protected]

Colorado AvidGolfer Magazine is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it, publishing eight issues annually and proudly delivering daily content via coloradoavidgolfer.com.

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