Stewart Cink and Padraig Harrington set to go head-to-head in Senior Open at Gleneagles

The two former Open champions have been paired in the same group for the opening two rounds in Perthshire after being the dominant forces in Senior majors so far this year.

Cink won both the Senior PGA Championship and Regions Tradition before Harrington responded by landing the US Senior Open last month.

Harrington, the defending champion this week, finished second behind Darren Clarke when the event was held for the first time at Gleneagles in 2022. Cink, meanwhile, is making his debut in the tournament.

The duo will be joined by German Alex Cejka, the winner at Royal Porthcawl two years ago, in a group that will set out at 9.19am in Thursday’s first round in Perthshire.

They’ll be right behind Clarke, who will have two-time US Open champion Retief Goosen and Welshman Jamie Donaldson for company.

For Donaldson, it’s a first competitive outing at Gleneagles since he secured Europe’s victory in the 2014 Ryder Cup on the PGA Centenary Course.

In the group behind Harrington and Cink will be Zach Johnson, who won the other senior major held already this year - the Kaulig Companies Championship, which was formerly The Senior Players’ Championship.

The 2023 US Ryder Cup captain is in a group with two-time Open champion Ernie Els and 2016 Claret Jug winner Henrik Stenson, who is making his debut in the event.

Greig Hutcheon will hit the opening shot at 6.40am, but it’s an afternoon start on day one for most of the other Scots in the field.

Colin Montgomerie is out with Soren Kjeldsen and Jerry Kelly at 1.36pm, with Stephen Gallacher, a member of the Ryder Cup-winning team 12 years ago, in the match behind with Scott Hend and Steven Alker.

1999 Open champion Paul Lawrie, meanwhile, is out at 2.09pm with fellow Claret Jug winner David Duval and Swede Robert Karlsson.

David Drysdale, Gary Orr, Scott Drummond, Doug McGuigan and Alastair Forsyth are also flying the Saltire in Europe’s only Senior major.