Miami (AFP) – Shane Lowry endured another agonizing collapse with a pair of late double bogeys that handed Nico Echavarria victory in the PGA Tour Cognizant Classic on Sunday. Ireland’s Lowry, the 2019 British Open champion ranked 31st in the world, appeared headed for a fourth PGA Tour triumph when he produced an eagle and four birdies through the first 13 holes and led by three through 15. But he was in the water off the tee at 16 and 17 on the way to double bogeys at both, and Colombia’s Echavarria was rewarded for his bogey-free weekend with a third PGA Tour title.
“I had the tournament in my hands, and I threw it away. That’s twice this year now so far,” said Lowry, whose double bogey at the 72nd hole at the Dubai Invitational opened the door for Spain’s Nacho Elvira to win. “I’m getting good at it.” Lowry had just walked off 16 with his lead down to one when Echavarria, playing in the penultimate group, landed a tee shot that flirted with the water 10 feet from the pin at the par-three 17th and made the birdie putt. Then Lowry botched the 17th, and the Irishman was suddenly two adrift.
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“I’m glad that ball on 17 stayed up,” Echavarria said. “My caddie told me, ‘Hey, it’s over, the ball is safe. You have the easiest putt you can have, straight up the hill, so let’s make this putt,’ and that was the mindset. It switched right away,” he said. Lowry acknowledged that after he played “unbelievable all day,” he let “one bad shot on 16 completely throw me for the last three holes.”
“It’s never happened to me before,” he said. “Geez, this is going to be hard to take,” he added. “Dubai was hard at the start of the year, but this is going to be pretty hard.” Lowry, who was devastated that he couldn’t celebrate a victory with his 4-year-old daughter, said he was still feeling confident after salvaging a six at the 16th to stay one ahead. But then he saw Echavarria make his birdie to tie him, and his own tee shot at 17 went awry. “Golf does strange things to you at times, and it certainly did to me today,” he said.
Any hope Lowry had of forcing a playoff with an eagle at the par-five 18th evaporated when he was in a greenside bunker with his approach. Lowry signed for a two-under-par 69 that left him tied for second on 15-under 269 with Smotherman and American Taylor Moore.
– Top-10 for Koepka – Five-time major winner Brooks Koepka, playing his third tournament since returning to the PGA Tour from the breakaway LIV Golf league, carded a final-round 65 and finished tied for ninth. He said an adjustment with the putter after a disappointing first round “made a huge difference.”
“(I) finally found some confidence. I think that’s the one thing that’s been lacking,” said Koepka, who will tee it up at the Players Championship March 12-15. Koepka said it has begun to feel like business as usual on the course now that attention on his return has subsided. “Once you get inside the ropes, it feels natural,” he said. “Once the first week, doing all the media stuff and getting all that out of the way, it was a huge thing for me. Now it’s just a matter of going to play and build a rhythm.”
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