Staff WriterBy anyone’s standards, Pádraig Harrington has had a fair old trot on the links. But now, on the sun-dappled fairways of Sunningdale, the 52-year-old Irishman finds himself two clear and within sniffing distance of something that only four men have ever done—win both The Open and the ISPS HANDA Senior Open.
The man with the twitchy pre-shot routine and a brain that could outthink a NASA mainframe is hunting history again.
With a second consecutive round of 65, Harrington sits at 13 under par through three rounds, head down, eyes forward, and looking to join the rarefied company of Gary Player, Tom Watson, Bob Charles, and Darren Clarke.
Already a Senior Major Champion this season—thanks to that second U.S. Senior Open title just last month—Harrington has been marching with a quiet menace all week.
Saturday saw him card birdies on the 4th, 9th, 11th, 13th, and 14th, wiping away a solitary bogey at the 12th with the sort of bounceback he seems to live for.
“I still wasn’t comfortable. Like I thought I was getting better but yeah, I don’t think I rode my luck as much today,” Harrington admitted, typically honest and unsparing in self-assessment. “Believe it or not, I’d prefer to make a bogey and a birdie than two pars… getting rid of that is not a bad thing.”
He signed his card with a closing birdie, a three-foot tap-in after another laser-guided approach—textbook stuff from a man who has rarely followed any kind of textbook. He now heads into Sunday with a two-shot cushion over Justin Leonard, who matched Harrington’s 65 to keep the heat firmly applied.
Leonard, who knows a thing or two about winning Open Championships himself (he lifted the Claret Jug at Royal Troon in 1997), was almost serene in his round, picking his spots like a surgeon.
“It feels comfortable, which is nice,” he said. “I came over here last year… played so poorly. Actually changed some things in my swing… but right now, comfortable with what I’m doing.”
His comfort will be tested come Sunday, though. Harrington is no stranger to sleeping on a lead, but neither is he immune to the Sunday jitters.
And lurking just behind them at 10 under is Thomas Bjørn, the 2018 Ryder Cup captain and all-round Danish warhorse, who carded a composed 67.
“Six birdies is good enough. Today we played the golf course, at some stage tomorrow, we might have to play the man,” Bjørn said, tipping his cap to the chess game ahead. “These guys… they don’t go away on Sundays. You just got to put your foot down and try and get there.”
With Harrington’s name already etched on two Claret Jugs and multiple senior trophies, adding the Senior Open title would be more than ceremonial—it would underscore a second act as impressive as his first.
His long-time rival Darren Clarke sealed the rare Open/Senior Open double in 2022, pipping Harrington by a stroke at Gleneagles. Now, the Dubliner has the chance to right that wrong.
Chasing the top trio are a pack of proven winners at eight under: Steven Alker, the 2022 KitchenAid Senior PGA Champion; Aussie stalwart Greg Chalmers; American grinder Kevin Sutherland; and former Legends Tour Order of Merit champ Clark Dennis. Each has the game to make a charge—what remains to be seen is who has the steel.
But the man with the target on his back is Harrington, and if he’s feeling the pressure, he’s not showing it—at least not yet. As he put it with a grin, “There will be a few mistakes, but hopefully I’ll make enough birdies to counteract that.”
One more round to settle the matter. And come Sunday evening, either history will be made… or history will have to wait.
Either way, the final day of the Senior Open is shaping up to be a proper showdown—vintage Harrington, with a vintage trophy at stake.
