US Senior Open - George McNeill Opens Two-Shot Lead - Golf Today

Name: US Senior Open - George McNeill Opens Two-Shot Lead - Golf Today
Uploaded: 2026-07-04T07:25:57+00:00
Duration: 10 min 39 s
Description: The 50-year-old PGA Tour Champions rookie arrived at Scioto hoping to make the cut in his first US Senior Open.

The 50-year-old PGA Tour Champions rookie arrived at Scioto hoping to make the cut in his first US Senior Open. He leaves Friday with a 66 and a two-stroke cushion heading into the weekend.

Simon Bale|July 4, 2026

Categories: Legends Tour, The Majors, The Tours, US Open

Keywords: George McNeill, golf major, PGA Tour Champions, Scioto Country Club, US Senior Open, US Senior Open 2026

George McNeill watches his putt on the fifth hole during the second round of the 2026 U.S. Senior Open at Scioto Country Club in Columbus, Ohio

George McNeill fired a 4-under 66 on Friday to take a two-shot lead into the weekend at the US Senior Open Championship at Scioto Country Club in Columbus, Ohio. His 36-hole total of 6-under 134 is the lowest score through two rounds at the Donald Ross layout, and it came in his first start at the championship.

McNeill’s goal before the week was to play the weekend.

“Never really had a good feel for US Opens. I don’t know if age is helping me,” McNeill said. “There’s a long way to go on the weekend, but to make it to the weekend was my first goal, first step, and then go from there, and we’ll see what happens.”

The 50-year-old closed his round with a long birdie putt on the final hole for the lowest score of the tournament so far. “That was unexpected. I got a little right of the hole, but then it broke back just at the end. Happy to see it go in,” he said.

George McNeill fist bumps after sinking a birdie putt on the ninth hole to finish -6 taking the lead during the second round of the 2026 U.S. Senior Open at Scioto Country Club in Columbus, Ohio — George McNeill (Edward M. Pio Roda/USGA)

PGA Tour Champions Rookie Leads

McNeill is a PGA Tour Champions rookie this season after winning twice on the PGA Tour during his career. He has logged two top-five finishes in 2026, one of them a tie for second at the James Hardie Pro Football Hall of Fame Invitational. He is trying to become the 13th player to win in his first US Senior Open, with Richard Bland the latest to do so in 2024.

Harrington Alone in Second

Defending champion Pádraig Harrington sits alone in second place at 4-under 136 after a second-round 67. Harrington, a two-time US Senior Open winner, said he could improve.

“I seem to be a little bit tentative with my approach shots,” Harrington said. “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.”

First-round co-leaders Stewart Cink and Charlie Wi are tied at 3-under 137 with Miguel Angel Jiménez. Cink was 3 over for his round through 14 holes before birdieing three of his last four to salvage a 70.

“It’s a tough track. It punishes you if you’re a little bit off,” Cink said. “Dug myself a little hole, but the last four it was really good to salvage those.”

Scioto’s Firm Greens Setting the Test

Scioto, which plays to par 70 at 7,170 yards, is the course where Jack Nicklaus grew up learning the game. Wi, who battled back from a double bogey on No. 2, noted the increasing demands of the setup.

“The conditions are getting firmer, so if they keep the greens firm, and there’s a lot of undulation on the greens, you’ve got to make sure you miss on the correct side so you can get it up-and-down and have an easy two-putt,” Wi said.

The cut fell at 4 over, with 60 players and ties advancing. Among those heading home were former US Senior Open champions David Toms (5 over) and Olin Browne (14 over), along with Justin Leonard (5 over) and Davis Love III (9 over).

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Pos.	Player	To Par	R1	R2	Total
1	George McNeill	-6	68	66	134
2	Padraig Harrington	-4	69	67	136
T3	Stewart Cink	-3	67	70	137
T3	Charlie Wi	-3	67	70	137
T3	Miguel Angel Jiménez	-3	69	68	137
T6	Chris Devlin	-2	70	68	138
T6	Henrik Stenson	-2	71	67	138
T6	Tommy Gainey	-2	69	69	138
T6	Alex Cejka	-2	69	69	138
T10	Stephen Ames	-1	70	69	139
T10	Paul Stankowski	-1	69	70	139
T10	Jamie Donaldson	-1	69	70	139
T10	Richard Green	-1	69	70	139
T10	Ben Crane	-1	69	70	139
T10	Ian Poulter	-1	70	69	139
T16	Jeff Maggert	Par	71	69	140
T16	Ernie Els	Par	71	69	140
T16	Ricardo Gonzalez	Par	73	67	140
T16	Y.E. Yang	Par	71	69	140
T16	Pat Perez	Par	72	68	140
T16	Tim Petrovic	Par	70	70	140
T16	Simon Griffiths	Par	68	72	140
T23	Jason Caron	+1	71	70	141
T23	Cameron Percy	+1	71	70	141
T23	Omar Uresti	+1	70	71	141
T23	Andrew Marshall	+1	73	68	141
T23	Freddie Jacobson	+1	68	73	141
T23	Søren Kjeldsen	+1	69	72	141
T23	Greg Chalmers	+1	69	72	141
T23	Haymes Snedeker(a)	+1	73	68	141
T31	Alan McLean	+2	74	68	142
T31	Ryan Armour	+2	73	69	142
T31	Justin Hicks	+2	70	72	142
T31	John Rollins	+2	72	70	142
T31	Kirk Triplett	+2	75	67	142
T31	Gene Sauers	+2	74	68	142
T31	Michael Block	+2	72	70	142
T31	Brendan Jones	+2	73	69	142
T31	Michael Wright	+2	70	72	142
T31	J.J. Henry	+2	72	70	142
T41	Thammanoon Sriroj	+3	72	71	143
T41	Hank Kim	+3	72	71	143
T41	Tim O'Neal	+3	75	68	143
T41	Thongchai Jaidee	+3	72	71	143
T41	Matt Gogel	+3	76	67	143
T41	Colin Montgomerie	+3	70	73	143
T41	Retief Goosen	+3	70	73	143
T41	Takashi Iwamoto	+3	74	69	143
T41	Darren Clarke	+3	71	72	143
T41	Ken Tanigawa	+3	71	72	143
T41	Jerry Kelly	+3	72	71	143
T52	Scott Parel	+4	73	71	144
T52	Shane Bertsch	+4	72	72	144
T52	Billy Andrade	+4	72	72	144
T52	Mark Wilson	+4	74	70	144
T52	K.J. Choi	+4	73	71	144
T52	Scott Hend	+4	75	69	144
T52	Vijay Singh	+4	76	68	144
T52	Chad Campbell	+4	71	73	144
T52	David Mathis	+4	71	73	144
CUT	Michael Campbell	+5	71	74	145
CUT	Steve Allan	+5	74	71	145
CUT	David Toms	+5	73	72	145
CUT	Joe Durant	+5	73	72	145
CUT	Matthew Daniel	+5	73	72	145
CUT	Darren Fichardt	+5	70	75	145
CUT	Van Phillips	+5	71	74	145
CUT	Dicky Pride	+5	74	71	145
CUT	Justin Leonard	+5	75	70	145
CUT	Brett Quigley	+5	72	73	145
CUT	Patrik Sjöland	+6	74	72	146
CUT	Jay Haas	+6	76	70	146
CUT	Steven Alker	+6	72	74	146
CUT	Steve Flesch	+6	73	73	146
CUT	Tracy Phillips	+6	74	72	146
CUT	Chris Kamin(a)	+6	76	70	146
CUT	Stephen Dodd	+6	71	75	146
CUT	Chris Riley	+6	73	73	146
CUT	Brian Guetz(a)	+7	72	75	147
CUT	Mikael Lundberg	+7	75	72	147
CUT	Joakim Haeggman	+7	75	72	147
CUT	Craig Bowden	+7	75	72	147
CUT	Brad Lardon	+7	73	74	147
CUT	Rob Labritz	+7	74	73	147
CUT	Paul Goydos	+7	77	70	147
CUT	Taggart Ridings	+7	75	72	147
CUT	Mike Weir	+7	72	75	147
CUT	David Bransdon	+7	76	71	147
CUT	Chris Dompier	+8	76	72	148
CUT	Shaun Micheel	+8	76	72	148
CUT	Heath Slocum	+8	76	72	148
CUT	Mark Hensby	+8	73	75	148
CUT	James Kingston	+8	74	74	148
CUT	Robert Karlsson	+8	72	76	148
CUT	Keith Horne	+9	73	76	149
CUT	Jeff Gove	+9	76	73	149
CUT	Woody Austin	+9	71	78	149
CUT	Greg Owen	+9	74	75	149
CUT	Davis Love III	+9	73	76	149
CUT	Jerod Turner	+9	72	77	149
CUT	Katsumasa Miyamoto	+9	73	76	149
CUT	Ángel Cabrera	+9	75	74	149
CUT	Stuart Appleby	+9	75	74	149
CUT	Mike Stamberger(a)	+9	74	75	149
CUT	Jeff Williams	+9	75	74	149
CUT	Andrew Sapp	+10	72	78	150
CUT	Doug Hanzel(a)	+10	78	72	150
CUT	Peter Baker	+10	76	74	150
CUT	Hank Kuehne	+10	74	76	150
CUT	Chad Fribley	+10	78	72	150
CUT	Jeff Martin	+10	76	74	150
CUT	Brock Ehler(a)	+10	78	72	150
CUT	Notah Begay III	+10	75	75	150
CUT	Scott Dunlap	+10	73	77	150
CUT	Michael McCoy(a)	+10	79	71	150
CUT	Warren Pineo	+10	78	72	150
CUT	Michael Pearson(a)	+10	77	73	150
CUT	Cliff Kresge	+11	76	75	151
CUT	Lee Janzen	+11	77	74	151
CUT	Burke Cromer	+11	73	78	151
CUT	Brian Gay	+11	76	75	151
CUT	David Drysdale	+12	77	75	152
CUT	Brandt Jobe	+12	77	75	152
CUT	Steve Nichols(a)	+12	74	78	152
CUT	Steve Sear(a)	+12	79	73	152
CUT	Thomas Gögele	+12	74	78	152
CUT	Ryan Malby	+12	75	77	152
CUT	Chris Eassy(a)	+13	75	78	153
CUT	Paul Wackerly III	+13	78	75	153
CUT	Olin Browne	+14	77	77	154
CUT	Eric Meichtry	+15	79	76	155
CUT	Bradford Kuester(a)	+15	75	80	155
CUT	J.J. Abraham	+15	78	77	155
CUT	John O'Leary	+16	78	78	156
CUT	Bo Van Pelt	+16	73	83	156
CUT	Jason Schmuhl	+16	80	76	156
CUT	John Kennedy(a)	+17	80	77	157
CUT	Bob Royak(a)	+17	78	79	157
CUT	Tracy Vest	+18	81	77	158
CUT	Caine Fitzgerald	+18	83	75	158
CUT	David Roesch	+18	80	78	158
CUT	Ryan Gracey	+18	81	77	158
CUT	Rik Cramer	+18	78	80	158
CUT	Bruce Nakamura	+19	84	75	159
CUT	Tom Werkmeister	+20	81	79	160
CUT	Tucker Sampson(a)	+20	79	81	160
CUT	Greg Sanders(a)	+20	84	76	160
CUT	Jonathan Clark(a)	+22	81	81	162
CUT	David Noto	+28	85	83	168
CUT	Bob Rittberger	+28	83	85	168
CUT	Artie Fink(a)	+29	85	84	169
CUT	Jerry Springer	+32	91	81	172
W/D	Mark Calcavecchia	-	-	-	-
W/D	Scott Berliner	-	-	-	-
W/D	Kevin Sutherland	-	73	-	73
W/D	Boo Weekley	-	72	-	72

Simon Bale

Simon Bale is the publisher of Golf Today. A low single-figure handicap golfer, he was previously a major shareholder and course reviewer for Top100GolfCourses.com for over a decade, starting in 2010. Through this role, he developed extensive knowledge of golf course design and architecture while playing more than 300 courses worldwide.