Despite still feeling his way around at Broadmoor, World Golf Hall of Famer Padraig Harrington shares lead at U.S. Senior Open; amid long roundtrip commutes and work duties, Erie’s Matt Schalk hits event’s opening tee shot
By Gary Baines – 6/26/2025
COLORADO SPRINGS — A World Golf Hall of Famer who has largely made his name off his performances in major championships is in the hunt for another — this time in Colorado.
Padraig Harrington of Ireland — winner of two British Opens, a PGA Championship and a U.S. Senior Open — shares the lead after Thursday’s opening round of the U.S. Senior Open at The Broadmoor despite losing a ball on the 15th hole.
Harrington’s four birdies all came in the first eight holes and he had to fight hard for his lone bogey. That came on No. 15, a par-4 where he pulled his tee shot into some trees and couldn’t find the ball. He re-teed, and ended up draining an 18-foot putt for par before parring in for a 3-under-par 67.
“You never feel good after you’ve lost a ball, so your head is a little scrambled,” he said. “You’re just trying to get your head around what you’re doing.”
On a day only 17 players broke par as many became frustrated with The Broadmoor’s fast, deceptive greens, joining Harrington at the top of the leaderboard was Mark Hensby. The Australian went out in 6-under-par 30, but gave three back to par on the final nine en route to his 67.
Mark Hensby played his first nine in 30 before settling for a 67.
Meanwhile, 2009 British Open winner Stewart Cink, playing in the same afternoon group as Harrington, missed his only green in regulation on the final hole after drawing a bad lie in the right rough off the 18th tee. He made bogey, just his second of the day, and posted a 68 along with six other players — Thomas Bjorn, Stephen Gallacher, Bob Estes, Freddie Jacobson, Ken Tanigawa and Matt Gogel.
Harrington earned his share of the lead despite seeing the course just once in practice rounds due to the lightning and hail that halted play both Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon.
“I only played it once before,” he said. “It was a little bit tentative in the lead. I suppose it’s a little harder when you’re leading and not knowing the course 100 percent like you would like to.
“I got through most of it. I didn’t really create chances on the back nine. I wasn’t in trouble very much, only on 15, but obviously there’s not as many birdie chances on that nine.”
Harrington admitted he was “just still trying to get a feel” for the course.
“Obviously you’re playing at different times, and the golf course feels different under different sorts of conditions, so everyone is still feeling it out,” he said. “The difference from morning to afternoon and maybe a change in the wind direction can make a substantial difference to how you see a hole play.”
Harrington owns six PGA Tour victories and nine PGA Tour Champions wins, but none this year, though he did finish runner-up in the Senior PGA Championship.
Harrington’s co-leader, Hensby, had a unique round. He carded just three pars, making nine birdies and six bogeys. He had three 2s on his scorecard.
“The front nine of this course is pretty short,” said Hensby, winner once each on the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions. “The back nine is a totally different nine. I just took advantage of all the short shots that I had on the front nine.
But “I felt like I lost some out there. It’s just frustrating. I played like shit the back nine. What else can you say? But I’ve never been a very consistent player. I’m hot or cold, and that kind of sucks.”
As for Cink, who won the Nike Colorado Classic in 1996 at Riverdale Dunes in Brighton, had one of the more steady rounds on Thursday, finishing with four birdies and two bogeys.
“The course is excellent,” he said. “It’s really a really good course and fun to play. You have your hands full out there, especially mentally.
“It’s typical USGA setup. The rough is thick and the greens are very, very demanding. So it’s quite a puzzle.”
Was Cink disappointed in only being 2 under par despite hitting 17 greens in regulation?
“I’m not surprised,” he said. “I had some putts out there that were 20-footers that had 8, 9 feet of break, and you’re just not going to make that many of those.
“I made some of the ones that I gave myself really good opportunities to, and I missed a couple of those too. All in all, I was fairly pleased with the way I played today. I felt like it was not spectacular. It was a good opening day to kind of like get my feet wet.”
Also among those under par is Spain’s Miguel Angel Jiménez, winner of four PGA Tour Champions events in less than the first six months of 2025. Jiménez (69) made four birdies, a bogey and a double bogey on the tricky par-3 fourth hole.
Meanwhile, Angel Cabrera, winner of two senior majors this year, opened with a frustrating 73.
The field will be cut to the low 60 players and ties after two rounds.
Shane Bertsch of Parker is one of 17 players who finished under par in round 1.
Parker’s Shane Bertsch in Contention in his Home State: Generally speaking, Shane Bertsch doesn’t get to play much big-time competitive golf in his home state. The Parker resident teed it up four times in the PGA Tour’s International at Castle Pines Golf Club, but just once since 1998 at that event. In the last 15 years or so, that makes the smattering of Colorado Opens in which he’s competed pretty much his lone “home” tournament that falls into that category. (Bertsch won the Colorado Open in 1998.)
That makes this week’s U.S. Senior Open at The Broadmoor a pretty big deal by those standards. Considering Bertsch lives about an hour’s drive from the resort, he’s among the handful of players with strong Colorado ties receiving plenty of attention this week.
And, as things turned out, the 55-year-old who grew up in Evergreen did the local contingent proud as he posted a 1-under-par 69 on Thursday, leaving him just two strokes behind co-leader Harrington and Hensby.
“It’s great,” he said. “I’ve got all kinds of friends and family here. We’re staying right at The Broadmoor, which is incredible. I’m getting ready to see my (first) grandson (A.J.), who’s only 10 weeks old. So that’s fun. He’s making his first trip out of the house. It’s great. You always want to play good for the folks, which doesn’t really matter to them. They just want to watch me play.”
But play well Bertsch did. A one-time winner on PGA Tour Champions — in just his second start on the circuit, in August 2020 — he racked up five birdies and four bogeys to put himself among the 17 players who broke par on Thursday.
“The course was gettable this morning, being softer because of the rain we’ve had (Tuesday and Wednesday),” he said. “I had a lot of real good looks at birdie. I didn’t make a bunch. I kind of stole a couple, so it kind of evened out. It’s not a course where — even if you get a lot of 10-, 12-footers, you can’t gun at them. You’re kind of playing defensive putting. All in all, it’s a good round.”
This week, Bertsch is going at it with his brother, Jesse, caddying for him. Jesse caddied for Shane for many years on tour, but this is the first time in about eight years he’s back on the bag. And though having friends and family on hand is nice, the bottom line is this is arguably the most prestigious tournament in senior golf.
“There’s always pressure in golf,” Bertsch said. “I don’t think it changes much. Like I said, you want to play good for your friends and family. But no matter what, when you tee it up, there could be nobody watching you, and it’s just pressure-packed. That’s how golf is. That’s competitive golf. Especially when you go to a major level when everything is on edge a little bit, it just becomes that much more pressure-packed.”
Though Bertsch doesn’t live very far from The Broadmoor, before playing the course a couple times in the last month prior to this week, he hadn’t teed it up here in about three decades.
“It’s just one of those things,” he said. “We play so much golf as professional golfers that I don’t drive an hour and a half to play golf when I’m home. I’ll drive an hour and a half to go fishing, but I won’t drive an hour and a half to golf very often.”
Matt Schalk and daughter/caddie Hailey after Thursday’s round.
Well-Traveled Matt Schalk Hits Event’s Opening Tee Shot, Then Goes Up & Down: It’s undoubtedly fair to say that few people other than Matt Schalk who are competing in the U.S. Senior Open field are commuting 190 miles roundtrip per day during tournament week, or sprinkling in a fair amount of work from their “other” job while simultaneously teeing it up at arguably the world’s most prestigious senior golf championship.
But it’s just a matter-of-fact occurrence for Schalk, the PGA general manager at Colorado National Golf Club in Erie.
While many of the U.S. Senior Open competitors at The Broadmoor were getting a round of practice in per day Monday through Wednesday, Schalk squeezed in nine holes Monday and nine Wednesday, and couldn’t play Tuesday because of work duties at Colorado National.
On top of that, while many of the players are staying at The Broadmoor this week, meaning they have no commute, Schalk — along with his daughter/caddie Hailey — are driving back and forth each day from their home in Erie.
“It’s kind of funny,” he said. “I was getting a text last night and a phone call talking about staff uniforms for the member-guest. I’m thinking, ‘Really, you’re (asking) that right now?’”
Such is the life for a club professional — or at least it can be. The upside is that there are also things that can happy and satisfying, like on Thursday, when Schalk was given the honor of hitting the first tee shot for the U.S. Senior Open in his home state. The 54-year-old teed it up first for the threesome at 7 a.m. off of No. 1.
“On the first tee, I felt like I was going to crap my pants a little bit, like how nervous I was for him, especially with friends and family and there’s so many people here,” said Hailey, a former University of Colorado golfer who won three state high school individual championships. “But it was great. It was so fun.”
The Schalks line up a putt on the back nine.
Of course, that momentous event came after Matt and Hailey drove down from Erie, making it in about an hour and 15 minutes without traffic in the early hours of the day.
“It’s amazing,” he said of the first-to-tee-off honor. “At the end of the day, I’m a club professional. I go to work every day. It’s an honor to be a part of this, the history part of golf, and I was honored to be there. I had a lot of friends here, and it was really special.”
And things started ever so well as Schalk stood at even par through the first nine holes on a very formidable golf course, with a birdie on No. 6. Alas, he backed that up with a 40 on the back nine, leaving him at 6-over-par 76 overall. He bogeyed the 10th, 11th and 12 holes, but the result he was left kicking himself about was the par-3 16th.
“For 15 holes I was playing really well,” Schalk said. “On 16 I turned into a club pro a little bit. I just made a mistake. You just cannot miss left there. I just missed a good birdie try on 15. So I was like, ‘OK I can stuff this wedge in there.’ I just went at the flag and I shouldn’t have. That was a mistake.” He did indeed hit it left and had a terrible lie. “It was just dead,” he said. He tried to get too cute with his pitch and ended up making a double bogey, then backing it up with a bogey on the long par-4 17th.
Other than that “I was really pleased,” said Schalk, the 2022 national Senior PGA Professional Champion. “I had a lot of good birdie putts that came up a roll short and rolled to the side. I felt I could have played a little bit better, so it was kind of disappointing because I played pretty solid. But 16 and 17 took a little wind out of the sails there.”
So on Thursday afternoon, it was the long drive back home — and, of course, a little worked mixed in before returning for Friday’s second round.
“I’ll go do some emails and stuff,” Schalk said. “I might head in (to Colorado National) this afternoon just to see how we’re doing for the weekend. I’m OK with it.”
Asked if the long commute and work made it difficult, Schalk said, “I think it’s good to be at home. I think I’d rather be there than staying in a hotel. I get up early. I think the working kind of keeps my mind off some things too. I feel like I’m getting good practices and stuff like that.”
And it certainly helps that Schalk is going through the experience this week with daughter Hailey, who is caddying for her dad like she did at the qualifying tournament and at past Inspirato Colorado Senior Opens.
“It’s amazing to share it with her,” Matt said while getting a bit emotional. “You’re playing a game that’s so male-dominant, and you come out here with your daughter, and — here she is. She keeps me grounded. She’s a big part of my success.”
How players with strong Colorado ties fared in Thursday’s first round of the U.S. Senior Open:
Denver’s Chris DiMarco posted a 71 on Thursday.
10. Shane Bertsch of Parker 69
33. Chris DiMarco of Denver 71
52. Former Aspen resident Justin Leonard 72
63. Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Brandt Jobe 73
111. Matt Schalk of Erie 76
143. Former CSU golfer Darrin Overson 80
For all of the scores from the U.S. Senior Open, CLICK HERE.
The swans near the fourth green remain a very popular attraction.
***********************
U.S. Senior Open: The Essentials
What: 45th U.S. Senior Open.
When: Championship rounds June 26-29.
Where: East Course at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. 7,247 yards, par-70.
Hole By Hole Set-Up:
Hole 1: 429 yards (Par 4)
Hole 2: 339 yards (Par 4)
Hole 3: 601 yards (Par 5)
Hole 4: 165 yards (Par 3)
Hole 5: 433 yards (Par 4)
Hole 6: 402 yards (Par 4)
Hole 7: 426 yards (Par 4)
Hole 8: 178 yards (Par 3)
Hole 9: 535 yards (Par 5)
OUT: 3,508 yards (Par 36)
Hole 10: 501 yards (Par 4)
Hole 11: 478 yards (Par 4)
Hole 12: 223 yards (Par 3)
Hole 13: 493 yards (Par 4)
Hole 14: 427 yards (Par 4)
Hole 15: 459 yards (Par 4)
Hole 16: 180 yards (Par 3)
Hole 17: 545 yards (Par 4)
Hole 18: 433 yards (Par 4)
IN: 3,739 yards (Par 34)
TOTAL: 7,247 yards (Par 70)
Field Size: 156 players, all age 50 as of June 26.
Cut: After 36 holes, the field will be cut to the low 60 scorers and ties.
Potential Playoff: Two-hole aggregate.
TV Broadcast (All times MT):
Friday: Peacock, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.; Golf Channel, 4-7 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday: NBC, noon-4 p.m.
Purse: $4 million, with $800,000 going to the winner.
Ticket Info: Kids 17 and under will be admitted free to the U.S. Senior Open when accompanied by a ticketed adult. For U.S. Senior Open ticket information and packages, CLICK HERE.
More Information: For more general information about the U.S. Senior Open, CLICK HERE.
(NOTE: Some of the previously published stories related to the 2025 U.S. Senior Open:
— Matt Schalk of Erie a U.S. Senior Open qualifying medalist for 2nd straight year; Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Brandt Jobe, Denver resident Chris DiMarco, former CSU golfer Darrin Overson and Utahn Steve Schneiter also headed to USSO at The Broadmoor
— As U.S. Senior Open approaches, The Broadmoor is set to once again present one of the toughest tests in senior golf
— Ranking of the previous 8 USGA championships held at The Broadmoor
— U.S. Senior Open record book brimming with Colorado-related superlatives
— Fully exempt players for 2025 U.S. Senior Open
— Highlights of the three previous times Colorado has hosted the U.S. Senior Open
— Hale Irwin named honorary chair for 2025 Senior Open
— Senior Open going to a 2-stage qualifying process in 2025)
About the Writer: Gary Baines has covered golf in Colorado continuously since 1983. He was a sports writer at the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, then the sports editor there, and has written regularly for ColoradoGolf.org since 2009. The University of Colorado Evans Scholar alum was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2022. He owns and operates ColoradoGolfJournal.com