PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Nico Echavarria didn’t make a bogey all weekend. Shane Lowry was on his way to doing the same, until the very end.
And that’s what decided the Cognizant Classic.
Echavarria, who was three shots back with three holes left, shot a 5-under 66 on Sunday to win at PGA National, finishing at 17-under 267 and beating Lowry (69), Austin Smotherman (69) and Taylor Moore (68) by two shots.
“It was a blessing today,” Echavarria said. “I didn’t have my best off the tee, but I was able to manage. I had some good breaks. To win out here, sometimes you have to have good breaks if you’re not Scottie Scheffler that hits it every time in the perfect place. So, I’m happy with how it went.”
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Lowry was undone by consecutive double bogeys at the par-4 16th and par-3 17th, both resulting from tee shots that drifted way right and into the water. He remains snakebit by PGA National, where he has now finished in the top 11 for five straight years without a victory.
“I had the tournament in my hands and I threw it away,” Lowry said. “What more can I say?”
It was Echavarria’s third PGA Tour win and first in the contiguous United States, and this one earned the 31-year-old from Colombia a second Masters invitation. The $1.728 million winner’s check was the biggest of his career, about $200,000 more than what he got for winning the Zozo Championship in Japan in 2024.
He could use the cash, too. 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 good, 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, joining Camilo Villegas, Roberto De Vicenzo, Jhonattan Vegas, Carlos Franco and Ángel Cabrera.
Lowry, who has been in contention at PGA National in each of the past five years and had late leads in 2022 and 2024, was rolling along, chipping in for birdie on the par-4 ninth to start a run where he went 5 under in a five-hole stretch.
And he had a three-shot lead over Echavarria going to the par-4 16th. That’s where his nightmare began.
Lowry’s long iron off the tee was way right and found the water. After a penalty drop, he hit a wedge back to the fairway and his fourth shot found a greenside bunker. From an awkward stance, he blasted to 3½ feet and rolled in the putt for double bogey, trimming his lead to one.
While all that was happening, Echavarria hit his approach on the par-3 17th to about 10 feet. He made the putt to pull into a tie, punching the air as he watched the ball roll into the hole.
Lowry then made another double at 17 when his iron shot went well short and right. He needed a miracle on the par-5 18th after playing his second shot into a greenside bunker. Lowry’s shot from nearly 30 yards skidded by, and Echavarria — in the scoring tent, watching the finish — knew he had won.
“It’s uncharacteristic for Shane, a major champion, but it’s just a testament to what this game is like,” Smotherman said. “I mean, you just have to stay in it for 72 holes.”
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, had the solo lead going into the final round before finishing tied for fourth in 2024, then tied for 11th last year.
This was, on paper, his best finish at PGA National. It just didn’t feel that way.
Brooks Koepka closed with a 65 to finish in a tie for ninth, by far his best finish since returning to the PGA Tour.
Information from ESPN Research and The Associated Press was used in this report.
