NEWPORT, R.I. — When Fran Quinn finished his second round of the U.S. Senior Open Friday by sinking a 6-foot par putt on the par-4 18th hole at Newport Country Club, his mother, Carol, was among his many fans who screamed with joy as they stood near the green.
Everyone figured that Quinn needed to sink the putt to have any chance of making the 36-hole cut and being able to play over the weekend, but that wouldn’t be decided until much later in the day.
The putt completed a round of 4-over 74 and left Quinn at 2-over 142, which was tied for 75th when he finished early in the afternoon, with more than half the field still on the course. By the time the round was completed last night, Quinn was among the top 60 and ties to make the cut on the number at 2 over.
After he finished his round, Quinn, 59, of Holden rated his chances of making the cut as “pretty good,” but he added, “I’d like to see this wind start blowing again. It can’t die. I can’t afford that.”
Quinn played in a stiff wind on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning.
“That’s what you know you’re going to get, that’s what you expect, and you’ve just got to grind through it,” he said.
Quinn reached the 18th green in two, but his first putt from the opposite side of the green came up 6 feet short. He collected himself and sank the 6-footer that broke the width of two cups.
“I was fortunate there on 18 to make it,” he said. “That was the hardest putt I had all day.”
Quinn wished he could have putted better. Of course, most golfers do.
“Today, the putter deserted me a little bit,” he said.
Quinn estimated 200 or 300 family members and friends made the nearly two-hour drive from the Worcester area to follow him around Newport CC on Friday. Among them were his mother, his children Owen, Katie and Sean, his aunt Diane Cosgrove, his brother Chris and his nephew Matt, who recently qualified to play in the U.S. Junior Amateur. There also were neighbors and members of Worcester CC, his home club.
“It was great,” he said. “It means so much because I know every one of them, and for them to make the effort to come down here and experience this with us is really nice. I wish I could have finished it off a little bit better today for them. I really played well enough to be about 5 or 6 under for the tournament.”
Fran’s wife, Lori, who caddied for him, also was touched by the number of people who showed up to cheer for them.
“I told them, ‘My heart is full to look out beyond the ropes and see all our friends and family out there,’ ” Lori said. “We don’t get that day to day on tour.”
Lori also caddied for her husband when he shot a 2-under 69 to win a U.S. Senior Open qualifier at Franklin CC in May and during the PGA Tour Champions events he’s played in recent years.
“She does a great job,” Quinn said. “We’re very comfortable together. She knows when to tell you to pick it up a little bit, and she also knows when not to say a word. She works hard and does everything you could hope for.”
Quinn was tied for third after carding birdies on four of his first seven holes on Thursday and finished the day tied for 22nd after posting a 2-under 68.
“I played rock solid (Thursday),” he said. “The 68 was the highest score I could have shot. There was no way I could have shot higher.”
After birdieing the par-4 third hole on Friday, he pulled into a tie for 14th.
His momentum stalled, however, when he double-bogeyed the 444-yard, par-4 sixth hole.
“Incredibly frustrating,” Quinn said. “I really played super, and I played super for two days, and I made a bad decision on six.”
After playing partner Heath Slocum drove through the fairway, Quinn decided to hold back on his drive.
“I hit it in the bunker on the right instead of just getting up and ripping it,” he said, “and then hitting wedge in.”
He missed a 5-footer for birdie on 7 and three-putted from just short of the green for bogeys on 8 and 9.
Quinn bounced back by draining a 30-footer for birdie on the par-4 12th after driving into the left rough.
“It ended up fortunate that I had a good lie,” he said. “I hit a really good shot and made a great putt.”
The putt rejuvenated Quinn.
“I knew I was playing good,” he said. “I had not hit a bad shot all day.”
“He kept his mental game in check,” Lori said. “He was working hard until the very end.”
On 15, Quinn wrongly thought Slocum’s approach with a pitching wedge had gone long because he didn’t hear any applause. So he switched from pitching wedge to sand wedge.
“I hit it perfect,” he said.
But his shot came up short of the green even though it was down wind and down grain.
“Just an unforced error,” he said. “You can’t do it. Terrible.”
His ball appeared as if it would roll down the hill onto the green, but it stopped.
“It was one you had to be careful with,” he said, “but I should have never hit it there. I should have hit it 15 feet behind the hole and have a putt.”
Then he three-putted for a bogey to fall to 3 over for the day and 1 over for the tournament. On the par-3 17th, he came up short of the green again and couldn’t get up and down for par.
This is Quinn’s fourth U.S. Senior Open. He missed the cut last year by one shot after getting in as an alternate, but he tied for 14th in 2019 and tied for 17th in 2021. Playing so close to home at Newport CC made this one feel more special.
“Honestly,” he said, “I’m so happy that all of my peers out here on the Champions Tour could come and experience one of New England’s best golf courses. This is truly an iconic club, and it’s in marvelous shape.”
Quinn refuses to count himself out this weekend.
“If I can slide in there and have a good round (Saturday), it doesn’t take much,” he said. “The scores are bunched. You never know.”
—Contact Bill Doyle at bcdoyle15@charter.net. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @BillDoyle15.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Holden’s Fran Quinn makes cut at U.S. Senior Open
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