As storm clouds just began to poke their heads over the Cheyenne Mountain, Mark Hensby slumped into his seat at a podium up the range from The Broadmoor, the unlikely early face of

Mark Hensby made seven birdies over the first nine holes Thursday at the U.S. Senior Open, and even after the greens at the Broadmoor and the major-championship conditions caught up with him, he left the course with the early first-round lead.

The path to the top of the leaderboard was different, but comparable for Mark Hensby and Padraig Harrington in Thursday’s first round of the U.S. Senior Open.