Shane Lowry’s late collapse sees Nico Echavarria awarded the Cognizant Classic

Shane Lowry’s face turned red. It wasn’t the effects of the Florida sun.

Standing on the tee of the PGA National’s par-4 16th on Sunday afternoon, the Irishman looked bewildered – suddenly unsure of what he was seeing or feeling – moments after firing a long iron into the water, a shot that wandered so much that it barely crossed dry land before disappearing with a splash.

Just minutes earlier, Lowry had held a three-shot lead at the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches, was in control of the tournament and on the verge of ending a decade-plus stroke play drought on American soil in an event he had previously come agonizingly close to.

Instead, the swing marked the beginning of a shocking collapse.

The resulting 6 – saved only by deft up and down from a greenside bunker – was the first of two consecutive double bogeys that cut his lead to one and then erased it altogether, opening the door for Nico Echavarria, playing in the group ahead of him, to claim his third PGA Tour victory.

“Honestly, I didn’t think this would be possible with the three-shot lead he had,” Echavarria said. “But the Bear Trap played harder today than any of the other three days. It played against the wind.”

That’s one way to see it. But Lowry – a major champion and match play hero – was not torn by the infamous closing stages of PGA National. His wounds were self-inflicted.

“I’m obviously extremely disappointed,” Lowry said. “I had the tournament in my hands and I threw it away. What more can I say? That’s happened twice this year. I’m getting good at it.”

That was a reference to January’s Dubai Invitational on the DP World Tour, where Lowry was tied for the lead when an airborne wedge and a botched bunker shot on the final hole blew his chances. At PGA National, the unraveling took longer – and more painfully.

“I just couldn’t feel the clubface the last three holes after my tee shot on 16,” he said. “It was strange.”

The turnaround was surprising for a player in complete charge. Lowry started the final round fresh on Saturday’s 63. Tied for the lead to start the day, he surged to the front with a stretch of five-under five holes, highlighted by an eagle at the par-5 10th.

It finally seemed time for Lowry to break through in his adopted home of Florida, where his left-born game has adapted well. He has four top-11 finishes in his last four starts at PGA National, including three consecutive top-five finishes. The most painful came in 2022, when he reached the 72nd hole needing a birdie to force a playoff, but came up short when a sudden shower swept the course. That was hard to swallow. But Lowry drew a distinction between the disappointment of 2022 and the sadness of Sunday.

“I wouldn’t say this was a stumbling block,” he said. “I would say I was beaten that day. But today I beat myself.”

Before his round, Lowry had spent time on the track with mental coach Bob Rotella. The two reportedly talked about keeping it simple and staying relaxed. It seemed to work for most of the afternoon.

Then came the tee shot on 16, followed by an additional calamity on the par-3 17th, which threw the day into sharp relief. Playing one group ahead of Lowry, Echavarria pushed his tee shot, which flirted dangerously with the water but lodged below the hole, leaving a relatively easy birdie putt. Echavarria took advantage of the good break and drained the putt. Then he heard from his caddy walking to the 18th tee that Lowry had found the water again with another wildly wandering tee shot.

Echavarria finished with a neat 66, completing a bogey-free round on one of the Tour’s toughest tests. It was the end of a big week on both a professional and personal level. On Friday, he and his wife closed on a nearby home. They had also purchased a dog, a Bernedoodle.

Lowry, on the other hand, had nothing closed. And all he acquired was another line item in a list of tortured finishes, including last year’s Truist Championship outside Philadelphia, where he entered Sunday with the lead but faded down the stretch and fell to Sepp Straka.

Needing a long shot on 18 to force a playoff at PGA National, Lowry hit his second shot into a bunker and walked away with par. His face was still red, his body language slumped.

“The hardest thing about today is that I’ve never won before my 4-year-old, and she was waiting for me,” Lowry said. “I just wanted it for her today. I didn’t want it because I don’t care about anything else. I wanted it so bad. Just seeing her little ginger hair along the 18th green would have been the most special thing in the world. I thought I had it. I thought I was going to win.”

After the Truist last year, Lowry had refused to meet the press. This time he faced every question, even the one he couldn’t answer.

What the hell happened?

Lowry shrugged. “Golf can do strange things to you sometimes, and it certainly did that to me today.”