COVERAGE: McNeill’s Final Push Leads Way at U.S. Senior Open

UPPER ARLINGTON, Ohio — If there was any doubt who would be leading halfway through the U.S. Senior Open, George McNeill’s birdie attempt on his final hole answered that question.

This is the same McNeill who a day earlier was pleased with his lowest score ever in a USGA championship. A little more than 24 hours later, he shattered that mark, recording the lowest score thus far this week.

He has now not only achieved his goal of making the weekend but also leads defending champion Padraig Harrington by two shots at Scioto Country Club.

“That was unexpected,” McNeill said. “Scott Hend, he was playing (with me), and he was two feet farther than I was basically at the same line, so I watched his putt kind of roll up near the hole, but his kind of stayed straight going up towards the hole, and he left it a foot and a half short or something.

“I kind of had a good idea on the speed and everything. I felt like I started on the same line, and I got a little right of the hole, but then it broke back just at the end. Happy to see it go in. That’s a bonus. I’ll take it.”

McNeill ranks second in the field in greens in regulation and in recent months has been working on his putting. Over the past two rounds that has paid off, but as he explained it, he has not really been put under pressure yet.

“On the Champions Tour, I’ve had a lot of good finishes and top 10s and what have you, a couple of second-place finishes and had some chances, but nothing where I felt really under the gun,” offered McNeill. “Maybe I’ll just kind of cruise through this too, I hope. We’ll see tomorrow and Sunday.”

Harrington’s round started with birdies on holes 11 and 12. Despite flinching on the 16th hole, he kept a clean card the rest of the way and will be in Saturday’s final pairing.

Putting has been a strength for Harrington as he ranks second in the field, something he has felt he turned a corner on, but he is looking for similar results with his all-around game.

“I’d love to play with a little more confidence in my game tee to green,” Harrington confirmed. “I’ve been putting well. I should be a bit more because I am putting well. That should take the pressure off me. I seem to be a little bit tentative with my approach shots.

“Obviously, I’m in a nice place, and maybe more of the same is what I want, but it feels like I could free up a little. With 36 holes to go, hopefully I play with a little bit more freedom, a little bit more confidence.”

Stewart Cink started the day tied atop the leaderboard with Charlie Wi but once again his first nine holes proved to be a nemesis.

As he viewed it, Cink kept shooting himself in the foot, and was not executing in his first competitive rounds since the PGA Championship more than a month ago.

He credited in digging deep on the fourth hole, his 13th of the day, with turning things around. On the last hole, he made a birdie putt, pointing to his caddie Chris Jones.

“He knows exactly what I’m trying to do on my putting, and believe it or not, it’s not necessarily to make the putts,” stated Cink. “It has a lot more to do with the process and the rhythm of my pre-shot routine. Chris knows that I’m really dialed in on trying to make those very, very consistent. So, I use him as accountability. I tell him like, ‘Watch this. I know you’re going to be counting. You ready?’ Keeping the rhythm with me.

“So, it gives me something to be accountable for out there other than just myself, because it’s really easy for the results to take over. I just don’t believe that’s a good mental head space to be in when you’re putting. Chris is a really good partner in that regard out there. So that was what that was about. It was like me telling him watch this pre-shot routine; this is going to be one of the best ones of the day, and it was. The ball happened to go in, which was a nice bonus.”

Both Wi and Miguel Angel Jimenez are tied with Cink.

DEVLIN SHARES MEMORY, DISPLAYS FORM

Chris Devlin has really been happy with his game off the tee which allowed him to fire an even-par 70 on Thursday, but a day later, he hit all 14 fairways, improving his score by two strokes.

Devlin was pleased to catch a draw where his afternoon tee time was one of the earlier ones and he could come back out in the morning and try to post a lower score.

His ability to attack allowed him to score and after tying for 55th place in last year’s U.S. Senior Open, he sits tied for sixth, four shots back halfway through the 2026 edition.

“It’s the only way you can,” Devlin said of his mindset. “Even at that, you’re still trying to hit it into certain areas of the greens. The greens are the real difficult task is the small target setting into the greens and leaving yourself below the hole where you can.

“If you’re coming out of the rough, there’s no question where the ball might go. It could be anywhere. It’s so difficult out there if you’re not in the fairway. So, it was definitely a big bonus to be able to do that today.”

Devlin has gone between the professional and amateur ranks but perhaps is most known for his time at UAB where he gave up some of his scholarship money to allow 2010 U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell the opportunity to play golf there.

The pair are good friends and grew up playing golf at Royal Portrush, and Devlin has now lived in Alabama for nearly 30 years.

“Graeme was a little younger than me, so I had had the advantage of coming to UAB, and we have some great golf courses in Birmingham. They’ve got great climate obviously, and I just talked him into it to come over. I had fortunately done really well in college, and I was due a raise in my scholarship.

“The coach came to me, and I wanted Graeme to come, and he had come to me, and I just said, ‘You know, you could just give him my raise so he can afford to come.’ It ended up, he came over and struggled a little bit his first year, but after I left, he went nuts. He acclimatized, put on some weight, and started hitting the ball harder, and it worked out for him.”

Chris Devlin reacts after sinking a birdie putt on the 16th hole during the second round of the 2026 U.S. Senior Open at Scioto Country Club in Columbus, Ohio on Friday, July 3, 2026. (Edward M. Pio Roda/USGA)

STENSON FINDING RECIPE FOR SUCCESS

Henrik Stenson’s shirt had nearly changed colors as a direct result of the heat and humidity but considering moments before he wrapped up his round of 67, tying him for the lowest of the tournament, he of course offered his trademark humor and smile.

“I hit the ball a little bit better today,” he summarized. “Yesterday I was still happy with that round. I hadn’t played hardly any competitive golf since end of August last year. I played two tournaments in April. So, I’m coming in here with fairly low expectations. I don’t think it would be fair to put the bar too high when you haven’t competed and haven’t practiced as much as one probably should have, but there was definitely some good stuff out there yesterday.

“Today I gave myself some more chances, and when I didn’t hit my best shots, I got away with long range two-putts and kind of kept the scorecard tidy and a couple of good saves.”

Stenson has found that lowering his expectations has served him well this week. He has plenty of familiarity with USGA championships, but having not played much competitively recently, it was the mindset he has used as a guide.

“I think that’s ultimately the easiest cliche in golf is one shot at a time, but it always tends to be the hardest thing we can do,” simplified Stenson. “I think it will help a little bit, especially when hitting a bad shot, and I feel like I can be a little nicer to myself than I would have been if I’d been out there 100 extra hours hitting balls and having higher expectations. So, we’ll just one swing at a time, and we’ll see where it puts us.”

Henrik Stenson reacts after sinking his putt for par on the fifth hole during the second round of the 2026 U.S. Senior Open at Scioto Country Club in Columbus, Ohio on Friday, July 3, 2026. (Edward M. Pio Roda/USGA)

OF NOTE

Jay Haas’s streak of making the cut at each of his U.S. Senior Open starts ends at 18. This the 72-year-old’s first missed cut and he bogeyed the last hole to miss the 4-over cut by two. … The lone amateur to make the cut — and the first since 2023 in this event — was Haymes Snedeker, brother of PGA Tour veteran Brandt. Haymes is tied for 23rd at 1 over, seven shots off the lead.

Jay Haas watches his putt on the ninth hole during the first round of the 2026 U.S. Senior Open at Scioto Country Club in Columbus, Ohio on Thursday, July 2, 2026. (Edward M. Pio Roda/USGA)