Club president John Lynch sent Oakmont members a letter last week saying Clark would not be allowed back on the property until he paid for repairs and got counseling for his anger.

Media were not allowed in the locker room, but a photo was leaked.

“I feel terrible with what happened. I’m doing anything I can to try to remedy the situation,” Clark said after he shot 65 in the final round and tied for fourth in the British Open. “We’re trying to keep it private between Oakmont, myself and the USGA. … I’m hoping we can get past this and move on and hope there’s no ill will towards me and Oakmont.”

It’s been a rough year for Clark, the Denver native who was on the verge of missing a second straight cut in a major when he opened with a 76 at Royal Portrush. He rallied with rounds of 66-66-65 for his best finish in a major since he won the 2023 U.S. Open.

He also threw a club at the PGA Championship after a poor tee shot that damaged a sign and nearly hit a volunteer.

“I’ve been pretty open about my mental shift and change to get better, and I did that in ’23 and ’24,” Clark said. “And then having a tough year and all the expectations and just frustration all coming together, and I did two stupid things.

“But one thing that it did do is wake me up and get me back into the person I know I am and the person I want to be,” he said. “I hope those things don’t reflect because I don’t think they reflect on who I am, and going forward that stuff is not going to happen again.”

The U.S. Open returns to Oakmont in 2033, the final year of Clark’s exemption for winning. Asked if he expected to be there, Clark said: “I don’t know. That’s up to them. I would hope so. It’s a fantastic course and place. I did something awful, and I’m really sorry for it.

“Hopefully they have it in their heart to forgive me, and maybe in the future I’ll be able to play there.”

Lynch said in the letter, which was obtained by Golf Digest, that reinstatement would depend on Clark paying for damage, making a meaningful contribution to a charity of the Oakmont board’s choice and completing an anger management course.

“Obviously it’s a no-brainer to pay for the damages. That was a given,” Clark said. “Then obviously all the apologies, and I want to give back to the community because I hurt a great place in Pittsburgh, so I wanted to do anything I can to show them that what happened there was not a reflection of who I am and won’t happen again.”

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Golf Digest obtained a letter that club president John Lynch sent to Oakmont members this week about the incident during last month’s U.S. Open, when Clark smashed up his locker out of frustration. Media were not allowed in the locker room, but a photo was leaked and went viral.

“Following multiple discussions with the USGA and the OCC Board, a decision has been made that Mr. Clark will no longer be permitted on OCC property,” Lynch said in the letter.

“Reinstatement would be contingent upon Mr. Clark fulfilling a number of specific conditions, including full repayment for damages, a meaningful contribution to a charity of the Board’s choosing, and the successful completion of counseling and/or anger management sessions.”

Clark received a 10-year exemption for winning the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club in 2023. The exemption ends in 2033, the next time Oakmont is to host the U.S. Open. The storied club has hosted the U.S. Open nine times, the most of any U.S. Open site.

Clark said a week later at the Travelers Championship that “I made a mistake that I deeply regret” and he was sorry.

“But I’d also like to move on, not only for myself but for Oakmont, for the USGA, and kind of focus on the rest of this year and things that come up,” he said.

Last week at the Scottish Open the Colorado native and Valor Christian graduate told reporters that he had turned the page. According to Oakmont, he has offered to pay for repairs.

“Yeah, I mean, I made a mistake in a moment of rage with a bad year and everything coming together and it just was more than anything a good wake-up call for me to say, ‘Hey, you know what, let’s get back on track and things aren’t that bad,’” Clark said.

Clark, who reached as high as No. 3 in the world last year, has only one top 10 on the PGA Tour in the 2025 season. He has dropped to No. 28 in the world, No. 22 in the Ryder Cup standings and at No. 78 in the FedEx Cup is in danger of missing the postseason.

___

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

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Bryant made his international debut at an Asian Tour tournament there. Heading into the final hole on Friday and needing a birdie to get to the weekend, Bryant sank a 10-foot putt to make the cut.

The Aurora native and Eaglecrest alum only finished tied for 55th in Morocco, earning him about $8,000. But the confidence he gained from that tournament was a catalyst. The week after Morocco, he notched his first pro victory at the Wyoming Open to claim $10,000. His sizzling summer continued with a win in a playoff at the Inspirato Colorado Open, netting him $100,000, and then another win at the Platte Valley Pro-Am for $10,000.

All of that sent Bryant into DP World Tour Qualifying School with the wind at his back, and paved the way to Bryant’s PGA Tour debut on Thursday at the ISCO Championship in Louisville, Ky.

“Morocco gave me the belief I could play at a higher level, and I could hang with any of those guys on major world tours,” Bryant recalled. “And it propelled me into the rest of last summer.

“Once I got all that money, and I wasn’t worried about a round-trip flight to Europe, a hotel room, the possibility of playing (multiple stages) in Q School that added up to around $20,000 of expenses. … I saw it as a smart decision, and I was going to use it to invest in myself, even if I went to the first stage and shot a million.”

Just as Bryant conquered the pressure that came with winning the prestigious Inspirato Colorado Open at his home course of Green Valley Ranch — he showed up the first day and his friends razzed him that the tournament was a “fifth major” for him — the 25-year-old stood up to the rigors of Q School to even get to the DP World Tour in the first place.

In the opening stage of Q School last September in Sweden, he narrowly made the cut by two strokes. In the second stage in October in Spain, he made the cut in a playoff. And in the third stage, in November elsewhere in Spain, he surged to finish -27 over six rounds and in third place on the circuit to get his DP World Tour card for the 2025 season. It was the best finish by an American in the 156-man field.

All of a sudden, the former CSU Rams standout found himself in the big-time.

“That changes your whole perspective from playing state opens and mini-tour events and traveling in your car from place-to-place in the U.S., like he was doing for most of 2024, to now getting ready for the 2025 DP World Tour season,” observed his dad, Matt Bryant, the general manager at Green Valley Ranch.

Bryant’s family golf roots underscored his quick ascension.

In addition to Matt’s role at Green Valley Ranch since 2006, his mom Julie is the chief operating officer of the Colorado Open Golf Foundation. And younger sister Emma, who won a Class 5A state title in the same school year as Davis in 2017-18, played at the University of Denver.

Add in the fact that the undersized Davis — who is 5-foot-8 and 140 pounds — has always relied more on fairway precision and putting than length off the tee, and it’s easy to see why Matt is reveling in his son’s PGA Tour debut. Even more so considering Davis was born three-and-a-half months premature, weighing 1 pound 10 ounces, and needed a heart surgery the next day.

“He’s flipped a switch,” Matt Bryant said. “At his size, you have to believe in yourself, play your game, not try and be somebody you’re not. And that’s what he’s done. He’s not the biggest or strongest, but from where he started 25 years ago as a preemie who spent 105 days in the hospital to what he’s doing now as a professional athlete, it’s pretty cool to watch.”

Bryant’s jump up the DP World Tour rankings earned him the spot in the field at the ISCO Championship.

He had his first Top 10 finish on the DP World Tour two weeks ago when he tied for 10th at the Italian Open, and after tying for fourth at last week’s BMW International Open in Munich, Germany, he moved up 43 spots to the No. 89 ranking. That performance included an ace on Friday while carding 63 as he took a two-shot lead into the weekend.

Before those two breakout performances, Bryant was considering going to play full-time on the HotelPlanner Tour, the second-tier pro golf circuit in Europe. He was struggling to get into DP World Tour Events for much of the season due to his low status on that tour, and had already finished in the top six in two HotelPlanner Tour events.

So Bryant figured going back to the HotelPlanner Tour — where the top 20 players at the end of the season get DP World Tour cards for ’26 — would be his best bet. But a conversation with caddie Rich Hanna during the second round of the Italian Open changed Bryant’s mindset. No longer was he just going to play to try to make a cut. He was going to play to win to give himself a real chance of moving up the rankings and keeping his DP World Tour card for next season.

“We had a conversation that he had nothing to lose,” Hanna said. “Instead of lagging putts, he needed to be more aggressive and starting to hole them. He had just left a par putt short on one hole, and he sort of dribbled another putt and missed it on the low side.

“I said to him, ‘You can’t be leaving a par putt short. That putt should be hitting the back of the hole. You’re good enough to beat these guys. But when we’ve got chances, we’ve got to have a go at them.'”

With his aggressiveness adjusted, Davis says he “always plays with a chip on the shoulder” because of the chatter about his size.

“I know I might have to hit a 6 or 7 iron into a green when other guys will hit an 8 or 9, and that’s fine,” Bryant said. “I own my game and I’m never going to play out of myself. … I look at (Justin Thomas), I look at Rickie (Fowler) and other guys on the PGA Tour who are small dudes and major winners.”

Adding to Bryant’s intangibles is his willingness to never shy away from big moments as well as his unflappability, according to his former CSU teammate AJ Ott.

“He wants big putts, he wants to play the holes when his back’s against the wall,” Ott said. “He’s very even keeled, very steady. A lot of guys ride the highs too high and the lows too low, but Davis is so good at being very consistent mentally. So now that golf is his livelihood, he’s built up for that.”

Considering his streak over the last year, Bryant’s setting his goals high for the future.

He believes he can finish in the top 110 of the DP World Tour rankings, which would keep his card on that tour and ensure him entry into 2026 events. But he also wants to make a push for his PGA Tour card, which can be achieved by finishing in the rankings’ Top 10, not counting players with exemptions or those already with their card.

“I’m riding the wave like I did last summer,” Bryant said. “I have the game to (get my PGA Tour card), and the mindset to do so. … I’ve felt calm and comfortable the last two tournaments, much more so than I was in the beginning of the year.

“I feel like I belong.”

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All week, players raved about the resort, the challenging East Course, and the trademark Centennial State surroundings. The USGA also announced earlier in the week that the U.S. Senior Open will return here in 2031 and 2037.

“It’s been fantastic,” said Stewart Cink, who finished second in a four-day duel with champion Padraig Harrington by one stroke. “The Broadmoor has been great to us. It’s been a great place to stay. The golf course is so fun. Highly recommend the golf course to anybody who’s looking for a golf trip. It was just a lot of fun out there trying to figure this place out.”

The two biggest topics with the players over the course of the week were the extremely tough greens and the altitude adjustments. While the USGA had no official attendance figures for the event, there was plenty of praise for the lively crowds and how well the course held up despite near-daily afternoon storms, including hail on Tuesday.

“I love the area. We’ve had a blast since we’ve been here,” said Steven Alker, who finished seventh. “The golf course itself it’s just tricky. The greens, probably the toughest green complexes I’ve ever putted, to be honest.”

Club pro goes low: Before Miguel Angel Jimenez went wild with eight birdies, Jason Caron set the tone for a low-scoring day with a 5-under 65. It was the best round of the tournament until Jimenez carded a 64 a few hours later.

“I thought I played pretty good most of the week,” Caron said. “I think I made some … not the best decision-making was my downfall for the week. Then today I hit it close a bunch, which I didn’t have to rely on thinking about where the mountain is, just kind of like only the two-, three-, four-footers. That was nice.”

A 52-year-old club pro at Mill River Club in Oyster Bay, N.Y., Caron entered the final day at 4-over, but his 65 pushed him all the way up to ninth place. Finishing in the top 15 at this event guarantees him a spot in the 2026 U.S. Senior Open.

“I’ll be back to work on Tuesday,” Caron said. “We have Monday off. Splitting time out here on the PGA Tour Champions and working at Mill River.”

Hensby’s rough finish: Unfortunately, Mark Hensby wasn’t lying Thursday when he called himself “hot or cold.”

Sunday’s championship was set up as a three-horse race, with Hensby matching Padraig Harrington and Stewart Cink step-for-step despite a smaller career resume. Hensby’s appearance in the final group wasn’t a surprise, Cink noted Saturday, saying he thought the three then-leaders had all played “really similar.”

Within a few holes Sunday, though, it was clear Hensby had fallen back, the Australian finishing tied for fourth in the field after shooting a 73. On hole after hole, his putts stopped an inch short or veered an inch left. Hensby’s only reaction was to simply wince and look to the heavens. His score of 5-under, though, still would’ve won the Senior Open in 2018.

“I’m going to be honest, today I just got off to a bad start,” Hensby said. “We just hit a few clubs that probably weren’t the right clubs and hit it in some bad spots where it’s hard to two-putt. Just couldn’t get any momentum going. Just couldn’t get the putter right today.”

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But there will also be fond memories of the electric charge Miguel Angel Jimenez put into the final day by storming up the Sunday leaderboard with the round of the tournament. Jimenez roared from six shots back early in his day to get within one stroke of Harrington’s lead before settling for third place.

His final tally: A bogey on the first and last holes, but in between was eight birdies for a magical 6-under and the only 64 of the tournament.

“This golf course is not easy. I played today very well,” Jimenez said. “I gave myself a lot of chances for birdie. … I played brilliant.”

Jimenez began the day at 3-under, five shots back of Harrington, Cink and Mark Hensby. Playing two groups in front of that trio, Jimenez immediately dropped a shot, but birdies on the third and fourth holes helped him keep up with a hot start from Harrington and Cink.

A birdie at No. 14 got him to 9-under, which was just two shots back of the leaders. That’s when Harrington took notice.

“I don’t scoreboard watch, especially as myself and Stewart were going well, I didn’t need to scoreboard watch,” Harrington said. “I knew it was between me and him. We stalled up on the back nine, which often happens. We kind of hit a wall. So on 13, I did ask my caddie, ‘Is it just me and Stewart, or is there anybody else here?’

“I knew he got to 9(-under). I was worried about Miguel because good things are happening to Miguel at the moment. … He’s in that frame of mind to do crazy things.”

Jimenez got to 10-under with his eighth birdie of the day at the 16th hole. His tee shot on the par-3 was solid. The putt was even better. When the Spaniard holstered his putter like a gunslinger in the old West to a large cheer from the gallery, the most interesting man at The Broadmoor this week was firmly in title contention.

His approach on the 17th was too far afoot for another birdie try, and then his tee shot at No. 18 went too far left into the thick rough. Jimenez had to lay up in front of the water-protected green, and it left him with a tough par putt that just missed.

“If I had a chance to get on the green, I would go for that,” Jimenez said. “But as I was talking with my caddie, okay, maybe you can pass the water, but we cannot do anything from there. Is it worth the risk?

“I’ve been hitting very well all week. We make mistakes. We are human. Just made a couple of mistakes. Made a few too many bogeys. Yesterday I finished 2-under par with five bogeys. … Today I make two bogeys too many.”

Jimenez has been one of the hottest players on the PGA Tour Champions circuit this season. He has won three major tournaments on this tour, including one last week when he birdied the final two holes to force a playoff.

He got rolling again on Sunday. Harrington might not have been doing a lot of scoreboard watching, but Jimenez was.

“Of course I’m looking at the scoreboard,” Jimenez said. “I know where I am, of course. I put pressure on me. If there’s pressure there, you know that you are close.

“Yesterday, 10-under par is the target. It’s going to be minus-11 to win, but that is the target to make some impression there.”

And quite the impression was made.

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By the time he paced out to the pond in front of a final-hole green, Stewart Cink had one last gasp remaining. One stroke down to the all-too-familiar Irishman he putted next to and chased for four straight days. One approach shot left, to set up a birdie and hope for a tie. He set up and looped a shot over the pond.

It plopped onto the green, a few feet from the hole, and a throng in the grandstands erupted.

OOOHHHHH!

And then, as if poked with an invisible pencil, it began to roll.

Ohhhhhhh.

For a week straight, virtually every golfer who’s taken a microphone at the U.S. Senior Open pointed to greens as difficult as any course in the country. The adjectives have flown. Wicked. Treacherous. And it was only fitting that a particularly treacherous slope on the 18th hole determined the winner of Sunday’s U.S. Senior Open, Cink’s second shot on a par-4 sliding to the far edge of the green and effectively killing his hopes.

A couple of putts and a tap-in for par later, and Padraig Harrington, the jolly World Golf Hall of Famer, plucked his ball out of the cup and raised his right hand to the crowd, the man who’d paced the field for four days holding off Cink to win his second Senior Open crown.

“I think, winning a U.S. Senior Open, or any tournament on the Champions Tour — it kind of validates the past in a lot of ways,” a beaming Harrington said after his win Sunday. “Genuinely, I know I’ve said this, you are reliving the past glories. You’re hitting shots, and you’re waving at the crowds, and people come out because they know you from the past.”

The 53-year-old Harrington was the most popular man on the course for four days, ever since he shot a 32 through his first nine holes Thursday and through a gritty seven straight pars down the stretch of a brutal back nine Sunday. The “atta boys” and the “come on, Padraigs” came flying from onlookers at nearly every stroll across the fairway, a man who once won two consecutive Open Championships and a PGA title experiencing another dosage of late-career glory.

“We were watching it on our phone,” said Harrington’s wife, Caroline, “and we could hear all the cheers from around the course, because so many people here — the support has been unbelievable this week.”

Sunday, though, was the furthest thing from a victory lap. This was a course, Harrington said earlier in the week, where you simply couldn’t sit in a clubhouse and plan your clubs for 18 holes. Each tee, each stroke, each green brought its own in-the-moment calculus, constantly changing variables from the softness of the grass to unpredictable weather.

Even as a thick, gray cloud hung over Harrington’s group, with Cink and Australian Mark Hensby tied with him at 8-under par heading into Sunday, the skies never opened. Still, it added a hint of danger to an already-tense trio.

Hensby pushed for three days, but twisted his mouth in dismay as putt after putt skidded just inches askew of holes. It left Harrington and Cink locked in a two-man race early. Most friendly banter had vanished, as Harrington threw his hands up in frustration before a couple of shots, when spectator noise infiltrated his preparation.

Cink’s sheer precision quickly stamped him a top contender at The Broadmoor, as he hit an unreal 35 of 36 greens across his first two days. When told of the statistic Friday, honorary chairman Hale Irwin remarked Cink “must be a psycho.”

“Sick,” Irwin said then. “The guy’s sick.”

After sinking a putt for par on the 10th hole, Cink got a stroke on Harrington. And as the lead flipped back on subsequent holes, Cink put himself in prime position to nab the crown on the 16th and 17th with a sequence of beautiful tee and approach shots.

Twice, though, his short birdie putts — both would’ve tied Harrington — trickled off the cup.

“It’s frustrating, because I hit really good iron shots there to put myself in position to get up there and force Harrington to make a little bit more of a heroic finish than just pars,” Cink said. “But it wasn’t to be.

“I don’t know, that’s Broadmoor for you,” he continued. “I wish I could have those two putts over.”

Harrington’s family watched anxiously, too, as Miguel Angel Jimenez mounted a miraculous run two groups ahead, putting in four birdies in the span of six holes on the back nine. Entering the 18th hole, Jimenez stood just a stroke back of Harrington at 10-under. But a wayward tee shot resulted in a bogey, setting up the final faceoff of a tournament-long faceoff between Cink and Harrington.

“Even though he’s a peer, he’s a guy I’ve always also looked up to because I’ve played with him so much,” Cink said, Harrington a frequent course partner throughout his career. “And I admire the way he — he kind of treats golf the way I want to treat golf myself. He’s in the present. He never gives up.”

Harrington did enough with a picture-perfect approach shot on 18 to raise the trophy with a final mark of 11-under. In 2018, David Toms won the title at the same venue with a 3-under. And as the grass settled on Sunday’s scintillating battle, both Harrington and Cink had set a new standard for Senior Opens to come, with the tournament set to return to The Broadmoor in 2031 and 2037.

“It was just a lot of fun out there,” Cink said, “trying to figure this place out.”

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Thunder, the Broncos mascot, wants his frazzled orange-and-gray ponytail.

His mom has a tattoo that reads, “Son.” He is fluent in languages only he speaks.

He is Miguel Angel Jimenez, the most interesting man in the U.S. Senior Open.

“What makes me unique? I am Miguel Jimenez. I am me. That is it. You know?” Jimenez told The Post after exiting the scoring tent after the third round. “I don’t worry about the opinions. I am in and out the same way.”

Jimenez is his own man. Authentic and unapologetic. He inhales life. And smoke. As he prepared for a shot on the par-4 13th, he puffed a stogie to take the edge off. A birdie and a No. 1 finger wag followed after draining a putt.

Seeking his fourth major title after capturing the Kaulig Companies Championship last week in Akron, Jimenez went on a Saturday run.

And his streaks are always a burst of joy. He delivered five birdies and eagled the third hole.

“I played some really good holes, then I played some holes where that’s not me, you know?” Jimenez said. “Today I had a few birdies, but way too many bogeys. Way too many.”

There were five in all. The golf course bit back with wind and rain. Jimenez left his approach a little chunky on the 18th hole as he gave back a pair of strokes over the final two holes. It left Jimenez irritated despite shooting a 68, his best round in the tournament. That left him tied for sixth, five shots off the lead at 3-under par.

There is no shame in that number.

The Broadmoor course belongs to the past. Want a smooth ride? Rent a pedal boat to drift across Lake Cheyenne, a long drive from the 18th green. The tall rough and devilish greens demand golfers buckle up. The U.S. Senior Open, especially this one, is a scramble.

Jimenez symbolized several golfers on the tournament’s third day. He exited agitated and delighted.

He has forever been comfortable in his own skin. But his personality and style mask a fiery competitor. The 61-year-old from Malaga, Spain, has won four tournaments this season and already has a spot next year in The Players Championship at the TPC Sawgrass.

He has been on a heater that has nothing to do with his cigars. It raised the obvious question: How many strokes can he realistically make up to chase down the three-pack of Mark Hensby, Stewart Cink and Padraig Harrington tied at 8-under?

“I had the ball in play and some short putts. Then I couldn’t do anything on 18. I felt good (after last week). But I was tired,” Jimenez said. “I don’t know what will happen (Sunday). I don’t know what it will take. It’s not always up to you.”

Perhaps no one has more fun on the course than Jimenez. He plays with energy befitting a man known to go full Sean Payton and knock back a couple of morning espressos.

And Jimenez on the driving range is a fascinating watch. He is part Shakira, part yoga instructor. Iron in hand, he stretches his arms above his head. Then he leans forward like a man looking over a cliff, balancing on a club to thwart gravity.

Toe touches and hula hoop-like hip and knee swivels come next before he even thinks of addressing a golf ball. Jimenez operates at his own pace. Never rushed. Always intentional.

“Many years ago, I started doing it. Why? It has worked for me,” said Jimenez, who has 17 career victories on the 50-and-over tour. “That is not the real stretch, though. The real stretch happens in the gym in the morning. What you see (on range) is the easy part.”

Jimenez has earned more than $9 million playing on the PGA and European tours and in Asia. He has been a member of two victorious Ryder Cup teams. The remarkable journey began when his brother introduced him to golf. He became a caddy and was eventually drawn to play at the age of 15.

Along the way, he picked up the nickname “The Mechanic.” Like most things with Jimenez, the explanation is layered. He is deliberate on the course, fixing parts of his game. But there was also a time he worked on cars. That is hard to do now with his current fleet, which includes a prized Ferrari.

Golf is his life. But his life is not only about golf. He enjoys good food and a spicy cigar. But don’t let the long hair and acquired tastes fool you. What makes him interesting is not just a bold glass of wine, but his ability to win.

“It was one of those days where I battled back. You are playing good, but then some holes happen that are hard to explain. I am confident,” Jimenez said. “But, I will have to play solid and make no mistakes.”

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For at least two decades, a constant debate has ebbed and flowed across the shores of professional golf over the long putter. In 2013, the USGA announced a ban on “anchoring” — the act of pinning the club against one’s body while putting. But the usage of that longer short-club has persisted, and Bjorn begrudgingly made a switch from a shorter stick, hoping to extend a career that had never seen a major win.

There’ve been moments in recent years, though, where it’s felt too much for the longtime Danish professional. He second-guessed himself, constantly, with short-game questions rattling in the back of his head.

Should I go back to the short one? Should I try it?

“Middle of last year, I kind of made the decision — I’m 54 years old,” Bjorn recounted on Saturday. “I’m just going to try and not have that stress in my life, and try to enjoy the last few years I have where I can play and be competitive.”

For three days at the Broadmoor Golf Club, he’s wielded one of the more unorthodox putting techniques in the field, his left hand gently grasping a long putter as his right maneuvers farther down the shaft. Traditionally, it’s a choice that won’t win over many golfing fans. But on Saturday, Bjorn’s broom-like sweeping putts shot him up to second in the field in the U.S. Senior Open at 7-under par, a mere stroke behind the triumvirate of Mark Hensby, Padraig Harrington and Stewart Cink.

Quietly, Bjorn positioned himself near the top of the pack before the weekend, despite not running with that top group. And after six timely birdies Saturday — including three in his final six holes — he’s within striking distance of the first major win of his career in Sunday’s championship round.

Bjorn downplayed that significance when asked after his round Saturday.

“Victories come to you, and if it’s tomorrow, great,” Bjorn said. “If it’s not, then there’s another major in a few weeks, and then we’ll try again.”

Sunday, though, presents a prime opportunity to claim a crown in Colorado, after Bjorn worked his way up the leaderboard to step directly on the top group’s heels. Cink and Harrington, the two buddies who’ve fed off one another all week, threatened to pull away from the pack for stretches on the first nine. But Hensby — no TV camera crews close enough to bother him on this day — nailed a key eagle on the ninth hole to keep even.

It’s a chummy top group overall, with the Australian Hensby appearing to fit right in with longtime competitors Cink and Harrington. After a brief half-hour weather delay early, the group briefly forgot who was up on the tee because “we’d all made so many birdies,” Cink smiled.

“It’s only right it’s a dogfight,” said Cink, who shot a 68 Saturday. “There’s some holes out there that can produce all kinds of scores. So I’m sure tomorrow we’re going to have quite a bit of ups and downs, all of us, and in the end, somebody’s going to have to stick their neck out front.

“I would love for that to be me.”

The 6-foot-4 Cink nailed one of the most impressive shots of the day, throwing up a fist-pump and sending the crowd abuzz after looping in a chip from the fringe on the sixth hole. As Harrington fell behind briefly on the back nine with a double-bogey on the 12th, though, the Irishman stole the last bit of momentum on the day.

After a tee shot that nearly fell beyond the ropes on the 18th hole, Harrington put himself back in position for a chip-shot birdie on a par-4 — and somehow nailed a heater from beyond the green, grinning ear-to-ear as the crowd roared.

“There’s a buzz out there,” Harrington said. “There’s a great atmosphere. It was special to hole out on the 18th.”

The final round of the Senior Open will kick off at 7 a.m. Sunday, with the Harrington-Cink-Hensby group teeing off at 8:50. But after they all finished in a three-way tie for the second day in a row, Harrington joked to his group-mates they could’ve all taken Saturday off and skipped right to Sunday.

“That’s why we do it,” Harrington said of the intrigue heading into the final round. “And that’s why we play the game, at this stage of our life.”

“We still like the idea of competing and hitting great shots,” he continued. “In some ways, when you’re playing out here on the Seniors, you’re reliving your past glories.”

Player-coach: When Andrew Sapp hits the road this summer on the recruiting trail, he’ll have a pretty good sell for junior golfers to play in the Big Ten.

Typically, the Purdue Boilermakers’ head golf coach only has time to play about three tournaments a summer, given necessary efforts to go scout and recruit players to his program. But he’s looked like a well-seasoned pro through three days at The Broadmoor, first making Friday’s cut at the Senior Open and then ending Saturday standing tied for 19th and 2-over.

“Overall, can’t complain too much,” Sapp grinned. “This isn’t my day job, so.”

His phone has been lighting up, Sapp said, with texts from current and former Purdue players as the former Michigan and UNC head coach tackles one of the toughest major courses across the country.

“I can definitely empathize with my players,” Sapp said, “because when you’re under the gun and you’re feeling the stress of a heated round in difficult conditions, I can definitely feel for them. So, I kind of understand what they go through very well.”

Locals: No native Coloradans are in serious contention for the Senior Open crown on their home turf, but those who made the cut are still holding their own. Denver-born Matt Gogel shot a 70 Saturday to remain at 1-over, and Brandt Jobe has put on an impressive comeback from injuries in sitting at 4-over. Shane Bertsch, who lives in Parker, shot a 72 to end the day at 5-over.

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Matt Gogel had Google Earth. And some yardage books.

On Wednesday of last week, as he recalled, the 54-year-old got a call summoning him to Colorado for the U.S. Senior Open. He was the runner-up at Shadow Ridge Country Club at a qualifier in Arizona in late May. Not good enough to crack the initial field of 156 at the Senior Open. But good enough, ultimately, that Gogel felt he had a “pretty good shot” he’d be invited to replace a participant as an alternate.

That invite came eight days before the start of play at the Broadmoor Golf Club. And it came to replace Fred Couples, winner of the 1992 Masters and once the top-ranked golfer in the world.

“You don’t want to miss out on any tournament at our age,” Gogel recalled. “A U.S. Open, it’s our national championship.”

Aside from the rather high-profile name he’d be replacing, this wasn’t anything new to Gogel. He’s been “living on the edge” of the 2025 Champions Tour, he put it. And he entered the field at The Broadmoor as a pitch-dark horse with one top-10 finish in 10 Champions Tour events. He’d never made the initial cut in two previous Senior Opens in 2020 and 2022.

Through two days in ’25, though, Gogel has positioned himself squarely in the middle of the pack, shooting a 68 Thursday and 73 Friday to sit at 1-over par and crack his first cut at a Senior Open. And as a slew of competitors have taken to discussing specific angles or degrees of elevation in trying to solve the equation that is The Broadmoor, Gogel’s kept it rather simple.

His game? He knows his misses.

“I kept it below the hole, which you have to do,” Gogel said Thursday. “There’s really no mystery out here, other than — it’s really hard to put the ball where you want it, with altitude on severe sloped greens. Today worked out pretty well.”

Born in Denver before growing up in Kansas, he’ll have a chance Saturday and Sunday to continue authoring a fascinating run.

Bubbling: As the field slims from an initial 156 come, a wide range of top names have been left behind with a projected cut-line of 5-over par pushing into late play Friday. Angel Cabrera, a Masters winner who was reinstated to the PGA Tour in 2024 after a prison sentence for charges of domestic violence, stood to be eliminated after finishing 8-over. So did former Senior Open champions Bernhard Langher, Brad Bryant, Fred Funk and Olin Browne.

Erie native Matt Schalk stood on the outside looking in Friday as well, at 15-over. Parker’s Shane Bertsch, though, made the cut at 3-over, with former Kent Denver mainstay Brandt Jobe dangling at 5-over.

Defending champion in the balance: Seven years after he hoisted the Senior Open trophy at The Broadmoor in 2018, David Toms simply didn’t come in this week with his “A game,” he affirmed Friday.

Still, after a rough stretch of three straight bogeys to kick off his back nine Friday, Toms put himself squarely back under the projected cutline with a beautiful shot from fairway to green on the 18th, sealing a birdie that gave him a shot at a purse — and a sigh of relief.

“Obviously, you don’t get paid if you don’t play on the weekend, and makes you feel awful,” Toms said. “Feels like a failure for the week, basically. … To come back here as the defending champion on this golf course, it certainly — it would mean a lot to me to be able to at least play on the weekend.”

Unlucky number 15: The back-half Broadmoor struggles Thursday were perhaps best-documented by Padraig Harrington, who shanked a couple of shots into the rough on the 15th. But a host of competitors have had problems with specifically that 15th hole — a par-4 at 459 yards with a particularly lengthy distance from tee to fairway.

Harrington again bogeyed on 15 in his second round Friday, the only hole he bogeyed on the back nine. So did Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn, one of the most consistent performers through two rounds. So did Paul Stankowski, one of several to break even through two rounds. The only top-ranked golfer to solve the hole Friday was Australian Scott Hend, who racked up an impressive string of three straight birdies from holes 15 through 17.

Singh continues a rollercoaster: Former Masters and PGA champion Vijay Singh made the weekend, but not without drama.

Singh started his second round on the back nine and played it 2-under par. When he made a birdie on No. 3, Singh improved to 3-under on the day and even par for the tournament. It fell apart on him from there, however, as he made four bogeys in the final six holes and hit an approach shot into the water on No. 9 to finish at 4-over.

Singh, once the world’s No. 1-ranked golfer for 32 straight weeks, struggled with the front nine both days on a course where many players have said the back provided the stiffer challenge. Singh played the front nine 7-over between the first two days — seven bogeys, a double bogey and one birdie — while playing the back 3-under.

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Of course, Irwin might be a bit biased when it comes to The Broadmoor.

The former two-sport star at Colorado and three-time U.S. Open champion is back at a place he loves this week, serving as the U.S. Senior Open’s honorary tournament chair.

Irwin, 80, joked Friday he doesn’t quite know what that title means.

He certainly knows this course, however. And he knows the challenge of trying to navigate this tournament, both the PGA Tour version and on the senior tour.

“You have to drive the ball on the fairway — let’s check that box,” Irwin told reporters here as he started down the list of what makes a worthy Open challenge. “You have to put the ball on the right part of the green — check that box. You have to have great management of your game because not every shot is going to come off as planned, and not every putt is going to be as planned. The greens are very exacting. … Double-check that box.”

“This course and this tournament has met all the credentials of being a major championship. It’s played at altitude, so you think, ‘Well, there’s going to be a lot of short irons hit.’ That may be. However, you still have to be so precise when you’re playing at altitude and playing with differentials and temperature. They did it right. It’s really hard to do.”

Irwin clearly loves this place. He’s been coming to the Broadmoor Golf Club since his high school playing days at Boulder High. He and his wife still come back to relax and beat the summer Arizona heat.

Every time he returns to Colorado, Irwin says memories come piling back in.

Of friends and family — he’s got plenty of both around the course this week. Of tournaments. Of his playing days, both golf and football, at the University of Colorado in the 1960s.

Irwin recalled Friday being hurt his sophomore football season and giving serious consideration to quitting football and focusing solely on golf, perhaps at Oklahoma State or Houston rather than in Boulder.

The interest from those schools, which had more golf pedigree? Lukewarm at best.

So he decided to stick out playing both sports at CU, became a two-time All-Big 8 defensive back on the football field and won an individual golf national championship as a senior in 1967.

He says now the competitiveness he learned playing against bigger players in football proved integral to his soaring golf accomplishments.

“That probably is what helped me (advance). Talent? Everybody has talent,” he said. “There’s not a guy that can’t hit a golf ball. That’s not it. It is, but it’s really not. It’s, ‘What do you do with it? How do you live away from home? How do you get a score that’s reasonable when you’re not playing well? How do you follow up a good round with another good round?’”

Irwin, of course, went on to pile up countless good rounds.

He won 20 PGA Tour events, including three U.S. Opens. The final of those came in 1990 at 45 years old, 11 years after his second. He won 45 times on the senior tour, a record that stood until Bernhard Langer passed him last year, including Senior U.S. Opens in 1998 and 2000. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 1974.

He’s experienced golfing triumphs all over the world, but there’s still something special about the afternoon sun giving way to a quick Front Range thunderstorm on the East Course. Hale said he simply has “a great fondness for not only Colorado but here at the Broadmoor.”

“When I come back here, it brings up an awful lot of ‘Where it all started’ for me,” he added. “The successes that I had not just in golf, but I think in football, too, really kind of helped mold the competitive spirit, which you have to have against these guys. I mean, they’re just too good.

“If you don’t have that spirit and the belief itself, you’re not going to make it.”

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