Stewart Cink authored a 6-under-par 64 on Saturday to rocket to the top of the U.S. Senior Open leaderboard with one round to go at Scioto Country Club in Columbus, Ohio.

Cink sits at 9 under 201 through 54 holes as he attempts to go 3-for-3 on PGA Tour Champions majors this year. He’ll begin the final round one shot ahead of defending champion Padraig Harrington of Ireland, two in front of second-round leader George McNeill and three ahead of Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez.

“I hit a lot more high-quality shots today for sure,” Cink said. “I think a lot of it has to do with a conversation I had with (caddie) Chris (P. Jones) earlier before the round about just my commitment level before the shots was a little off and just not quite there, not where it needed to be.

“Today was a day about making the choice to be committed and be willing to accept anything. That just has a tendency to free me up. When I play freed up, it’s just the results are usually a lot better, and executing is a lot better.”

Cink, 53, kicked his round into high gear with an eagle at the par-5 No. 6. That moved him to 3 under for the round. He added birdies on the ninth, 12th and 17th to seize the lead.

While Cink played bogey-free golf, Harrington shrugged a bogey at No. 4 and reeled off five birdies in a six-hole stretch to position himself for another U.S. Senior Open showdown with Cink.

Harrington and Cink shared the lead with Mark Hensby after three rounds last year at Broadmoor Country Club in Colorado Springs, Colo., but Harrington emerged with the victory by one shot over Cink and two over Angel Jimenez.

“To play Harrington, he’s such a great player, and I’ve admired his game for so long, I think we both kind of bring good out of each other,” Cink said. “I know I’ve heard him say that (to) the press. I know he probably thinks I don’t read his press, but I’ve read it before. He said that. I agree; I like playing with him. And he’s the ultimate competitor. He’s never going to take a shot off, and I don’t expect him to tomorrow, either.”

“It’s a little bit like riding a roller coaster,” Harrington said. “The further you get away from being on it, the more you think you enjoy it. Yeah, look, I’ll be out there tomorrow. I know I want to be there. I know this is why we do it, and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

“But I’ll be questioning my decisions at times during it. It’s one of those things; you put yourself out there, you put yourself under pressure. You don’t want to mess up. You wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. But it’s still a tough place to be.”

Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke matched Cink’s 64 – the best scores of the tournament – to climb 36 spots in the standings. Clarke and Paul Stankowski (68) share fifth place at 3 under with four more golfers, including England’s Ian Poulter (69), sitting at 2 under.

Final-round tee times are being moved up several hours to avoid storms expected to hit Columbus in the afternoon.

–Field Level Media

SEATTLE — Ticket prices for the United States’ highly anticipated round of 16 game against Belgium on Monday plunged by more than 30% before rebounding slightly early Saturday evening.

The get-in price for the final 2026 World Cup match in Seattle hit nearly $4,000 on June 1, according to ticket-tracking service TicketData.com. After dipping to as low as $1,549 on Tuesday, the get-in price spiked to $2,836 after the USMNT solidified their spot in the round of 16 with a 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

However, the get-in price has steadily declined in the days since. It dropped to $1,423 on Saturday afternoon — a 32% decrease over the past three days — but the get-in price rebounded to $1,635 at 6 p.m. ET.

That late boost pushed the US-Belgium game from the fourth-highest get-in price to the second-highest price among the eight round of 16 matches. Mexico’s game against England in Mexico City on Sunday sits at $3,574.

ROUND OF 16 TICKET PRICES*

Mexico-England, 7/5 (Houston): $3,574

USA-Belgium: 7/6 (Seattle): $1,635

Argentina-Egypt: 7/7 (Atlanta): $1,599

Brazil-Norway: 7/5 (New York): $1,537

Portugal-Spain: 7/6 (Dallas): $1,367

Switzerland-Colombia: $959 (Vancouver): $972

Paraguay-France: 7/4 (Philadelphia): $914

Canada-Morocco: 7/4 (Houston): $721

*TicketData.com as of 6 p.m. ET on July 4

The significant drop in the get-in price for the US-Belgium game is somewhat surprising considering the Red Devils’ base camp is located just 10 miles south of Seattle Stadium at the Sounders FC Performance Center. Monday will mark Belgium’s third match in Seattle following a 1-1 draw with Egypt in the group stage and a dramatic 3-2 comeback victory over Senegal in the round of 32.

Canada was the first team eliminated from the round of 16 with their 3-0 loss to Morocco on Saturday. The get-in price for that match dropped 14% from $838 over the final 72 hours.

–Derek Harper, Field Level Media

JOLIET, Ill. — When it comes to oval tracks, Denny Hamlin has established himself firmly on the throne as king of qualifying.

In Saturday’s time trials at Chicagoland Speedway, Hamlin edged Kyle Larson by 0.001 seconds to claim the pole position for Sunday’s eero 400 (6 p.m. ET on TNT, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Hamlin sped around the 1.5-mile intermediate track in 30.296 seconds (178.241 mph). Larson, who ran later in the qualifying order, fell just short at 178.235 mph.

The Busch Light Pole Award was Hamlin’s fourth of the season, his first at Chicagoland (which hasn’t hosted a NASCAR national series race since 2019) and the 52nd of his career, breaking a tie with Ryan Newman for ninth all-time.

Hamlin, the 2015 Chicagoland winner, won poles at the previous two oval tracks on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule, Michigan International Speedway and Pocono Raceway. He is the only driver to win poles at both Chicagoland Speedway and the Chicago Street Course (2023).

“I’m the Chicago master — what can I say?” Hamlin quipped.

In fact, Hamlin considered himself lucky to win his third straight oval-track pole, having gotten the benefit of favorable cloud conditions.

“I don’t want to continue to underplay it, but we got very fortunate,” said Hamlin, who leads the series standings by one point over Tyler Reddick. “The last 12 cars had full sun — 100 percent sun. The last few had 90 percent, but I think that was the deciding factor.”

“We saw that, right after I went, the track definitely got hotter, and it seemed like the corner speeds of those guys started to slow down. I think if there was one more car behind Ty Gibbs (the final qualifier), they definitely would have beaten us, because it went full shade.

“We got fortunate there, but they (Hamlin’s No. 11 team) did a real good job overnight with my car (whose balance wasn’t ideal during Friday’s practice).”

Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford drivers Chris Buescher (178.153 mph) and Brad Keselowski (178.089 mph) qualified third and fourth, respectively. With two victories at Chicagoland, Keselowski is the only driver in the field for Sunday’s race with multiple wins at the track.

Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Ty Gibbs, Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe claimed the respective fifth through seventh starting positions. Bubba Wallace, Chase Elliott and William Byron completed the top 10, which consisted of four JGR Toyotas, three Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets, two RFK Fords and one 23XI Racing Toyota (Wallace).

The No. 2 and top remaining seed in the NASCAR Cup Series In-Season Challenge, Hamlin faces Erik Jones in Sunday’s second round. Jones qualified 22nd.

In battles between teammates, Larson faces Byron, while Gibbs takes on Briscoe.

Hamlin, however, will have his eye on Larson.

“In my personal opinion,” Hamlin said, “Kyle Larson is the best driver at this race track, so he’s going to be someone I have to contend with, and I’m sure all the Hendrick cars are.”

Michael McDowell’s No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet failed inspection three times and must start from the rear of the field under penalty. McDowell will have to serve a pass-through on the opening lap.

–Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service