Padraig Harrington defended his U.S. Senior Open title at Scioto, matching Miller Barber with a record-tying third win in the event.
Padraig Harrington didn’t need late-hole magic this time.
He brought the hammer early, buried Stewart Cink before the turn and turned the 2026 U.S. Senior Open into a history-making walk at Scioto Country Club in Columbus, Ohio.
Harrington shot a final-round 66 on Sunday to finish at 12-under 268, winning by four shots and becoming just the second player ever to win the U.S. Senior Open three times.
The only other golfer to do it is Miller Barber, putting Harrington in rare air in one of senior golf’s biggest championships.
The 54-year-old Irishman also became the fourth player to win back-to-back U.S. Senior Open titles, joining Barber, Gary Player and Allen Doyle.
For Harrington, it was his fourth senior major championship and his 12th career PGA TOUR Champions victory.
Unlike his previous U.S. Senior Open wins, this one didn’t come with white-knuckle drama on the final hole. Harrington made sure of that almost immediately.
Cink entered Sunday with a one-shot lead, but the tournament flipped fast. Harrington birdied the first hole, then stuck his approach at No. 2 inside three feet for another birdie.
Cink bogeyed two of the first three holes, and suddenly the pressure shifted hard in Harrington’s favor.
The knockout blow came at the par-4 eighth. Cink hit what looked like a strong tee shot, only to see it take a brutal bounce and roll into a creek.
Harrington then poured in a 30-foot birdie putt, stretching his lead and sucking most of the suspense out of the championship.
From there, Harrington played like a veteran who knew exactly what the moment required.
He didn’t chase trouble. He didn’t force the issue. With the lead in hand, he attacked when it made sense and aimed safely when it didn’t.
Cink, trying to become the first player to win the first three senior majors of a season, never found his rhythm. He hit only two fairways on the front nine and closed with a 71 to finish second at 8-under 272.
It was his second straight runner-up finish to Harrington in this event.
George McNeill finished third at 6-under 274, while Ian Poulter took fourth at 5-under after a closing 67. Retief Goosen, Jamie Donaldson and Paul Stankowski tied for fifth at 4-under.
But Sunday belonged to Harrington, who didn’t just defend a title. He added another line to a senior career that keeps getting louder.
