Palm Beach Gardens, Florida — Nico Echavarria Not a single bogey was made the entire weekend. shane lowry He was on track to do just that until the very end.
And this led to the decision of Cognizant Classic.
Echavarria, who was three shots behind with three holes remaining, shot 5-under 66 on Sunday to win at PGA National, finishing at 17-under 267 and defeating Lowry (69). Austin Smotherman (69) And taylor moore (68) By two shots.
“Today was a blessing,” Echavarria said. “I didn’t play my best off the tee, but I was able to manage. I had some good breaks. To win here, sometimes you have to get good breaks if you’re not Scotty Scheffler Which hits it right every time. So, I’m happy with how it went.”
Lowry suffered consecutive double bogeys on the par-4 16th and par-3 17th, both resulting from tee shots that drifted right and into the water. He remains snakebitten by PGA National, where he has now finished in the top 11 for five consecutive years without a win.
“I’m obviously extremely disappointed,” Lori said. “The tournament was in my hands, and I blew it. What else can I say? It’s happened twice so far this year. I’m getting good at it. … I played unbelievable all day, and one bad shot on 16 completely ruined me for the last three holes. That’s never happened to me before.”
It was Echavarría’s third PGA Tour win and first in the contiguous United States, and earned the 31-year-old from Colombia his second Masters invitation. The winning check of $1.728 million was the largest check of his career, almost $200,000 more than the check he received for winning the Zozo Championship in Japan in 2024.
He could also use cash. Echavarria closed on a house in South Florida last week and promised his wife that when he got his third win, they would add a dog to the family.
“I was hitting the ball well and here we are,” Echavarria said. “We’re getting a dog.”
He became the sixth player representing South America to win at least three times on the PGA Tour. camilo villegas, Roberto de Vicenzo, Jhonattan Vegas, carlos franco And angel cabrera.
Lowry, who has been in contention at PGA National in each of the last five years and had late gains in 2022 and 2024, was on the mend for birdie on the par-4 ninth to start a run where he went 5 under in the five-hole stretch.
And by the time he reached the par-4 16th, he had a three-shot lead over Echavarria. This is where his nightmare began.
Lowry’s 3-iron off the tee – the same club he hit there all week – was perfect and found the water. After the penalty drop, he hit a wedge back into the fairway and his fourth shot found the greenside bunker. From an awkward stance, he soared to 3 1/2 feet and rolled in the putt for double bogey.
While all this was happening, Echavarria extended his approach by about 10 feet on the par-3 17th. He parried the putt by punching the air as he watched the ball roll into the hole.
Lowry then scored another double at 17 when his iron shot went just short and right. He needed a miracle on the par-5 18th after hitting his second shot into a greenside bunker. Lowry’s shot from about 30 yards slipped by, and Echavarría in the scoring tent – who was watching the finish – knew he had won.
“I didn’t think it would be possible,” Echavarria said.
Lowry was second in 2022 when the event was still called the Honda Classic, losing the lead after getting caught in a deluge on the final hole. He tied for fifth at PGA National a year later, blew a solo lead in the final round, and tied for fourth in 2024, then tied for 11th last year.
On paper it was his best performance at PGA National. It didn’t feel like that at all.
Lowry has not had an individual win in the United States since the Bridgestone Invitational in 2015; they worked together Rory McIlroy to win the Zurich Classic in 2024, and the 38-year-old was part of victory in a slightly larger team event at Bethpage Black last year – the Ryder Cup, when he halted America’s dream of a historic comeback with a clinching putt.
“How do I feel now after what I did in Bethpage last September and going through that fine?” Lori said. “I felt like it was weird there; after my tee shot on 16 I couldn’t feel the clubface on the last three holes. It was weird. What can I say? It’s very disappointing. It’s going to be hard to endure.”
brooks koepka Finished in ninth place with a score of 65, his best finish since returning to the PGA Tour.
Information from ESPN Research and The Associated Press was used in this report.
