COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) 鈥� After leaving one chip in the rough and losing a bit of trust on the greens, Padraig Harrington was looking for something to give him hope heading into what figures to be a tumultuous final day at the topsy, turvy Broadmoor.
A chip-in from 20 yards for birdie on No. 18 did the trick. It gave Harrington a share of the lead, a spot in the final group and left him one more good round away from winning the U.S. Senior Open for the second time in four years.
Harrington's chip-in Saturday pulled him into a tie with Stewart Cink and Mark Hensby, same as he was heading into the day. Playing in the same threesome, all three shot 2-under 68 to finish at 8-under 202. Only one walked away with that extra pep in his step that comes from making a shot like that.
鈥淚t was special to hole out on the 18th, with everybody watching, the anticipation,鈥� Harrington said. 鈥淚t was very exciting and very nice that I didn鈥檛 have to hit another shot.鈥�
One shot behind was Thomas Bjorn, whose 66 matched the best round of the day and set up what appears to be a four-man fight for the title.
Steve Flesch (67) was another three shots back at 4 under and Steven Alker鈥檚 66 left him at 3 under, tied with Miguel Angel Jimenez (68) and Paul Stankowski (67).
One more shot back was Billy Andrade (70), he of the ailing back who collapsed in agony after his approach on No. 17, yet somehow still made par there. It was fitting picture given all the pain and confusion the heavily tilted Broadmoor causes, especially when it's set up for major-championship conditions.
鈥淚t鈥檚 what you do on those last four or five holes that are fairly tough and ask some big questions,鈥� Bjorn said. 鈥淚鈥檓 quite sure the pin position tomorrow is going to have more questions for us. That鈥檚 where you win the golf tournament.鈥�
Hensby's worst taste of the greens came on 18. With the gallery still buzzing from Harrington's hole-out, the Australian, whose 54th birthday is Sunday, left a 6-foot birdie for the solo lead short. It curled hard to the right without reaching the hole.
Even so, Hensby made four more birdies (along with an eagle) to finish Day 3 with 19 for the tournament. Cink, by comparison, has 13. Hensby can take comfort that he, more than anyone, has figured out how to hit from long range on greens that Justin Leonard said are 鈥渞ight on par with trying to putt at Augusta National.鈥�
鈥淵ou can have a 5-footer that can break 2 feet,鈥� Hensby said. 鈥淧eople go, 鈥楢hh,鈥� when you miss a 4-footer even though you鈥檙e aiming at a cup outside left edge and hoping. But it was fun.鈥�
No single putt illustrated this more than Cink's on the par-3 16th. Ffrom just off the green, his birdie attempt curled past the hole and some 30 feet from the flag as the ever-present slope of Cheyenne Mountain took its toll.
Still, he wasn't complaining after a four-birdie, two-bogey round on a day filled with sun, clouds, wind, rain and even a flash of lightning that pulled the players off the course for a half-hour.
And the 6,000 feet of altitude.
鈥淲e hit some shots out there that we really didn鈥檛 know what to expect when the ball was in the air,鈥� Cink said. 鈥淭here was one where on a par-3, on the 12th hole, it was a 228-yard shot, and I hit an 8-iron. How do you figure that kind of stuff?鈥�
Cink and Hensby looked like they鈥檇 finish tied by themselves for the lead they had shared with Harrington before the Irishman started losing momentum on the back nine.
The three-time major champion needed two chips from the deep rough on the par-3 12th and made double bogey to fall out of the lead. Another bogey came on 15 when he babied a 5-foot par putt and it curled away well before the hole.
鈥淚 certainly lost a bit of trust on the green,鈥� Harrington said.
He set up the fabulous finish by yanking his tee shot on 18 into the rough left of the fairway, giving him no choice but to hack out over the lake and short of the green.
But he turned a possible bogey into an unlikely birdie and guaranteed himself a spot in the final group Sunday, where he鈥檒l play in the same threesome (due to weather) as he did Saturday. It also will mark his fourth straight day of going head-to-head with Cink.
鈥淚 did want to be in the last group, yes, and the only way I could be in the last group was making that birdie,鈥� Harrington said. 鈥淏ut just because you want something doesn鈥檛 mean you can. If it was as easy as that, we鈥檇 be all great.鈥�
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Eddie Pells, The Associated Press
