Lowry mangled in Bear Trap as Echavarria snatches Cognizant Classic at the death
Shane Lowry
Shane Lowry got brutally mangled by the infamous Bear Trap and double bogeyed the 16th and 17th to hand the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches to Colombia’s Nico Echavarria.
The Offaly man looked set to make up for a series of near misses at PGA National over the past five years and end a three and a half year victory drought when he raced to six-under for the round and three strokes clear of the Colombian with four holes to play.
It was clear that the 2019 Open champion was painfully aware that he still had to come through the treacherous, water-strewn stretch from the 15th to the 17th.
And so it proved for Lowry, whose disastrous finish left him winless as an individual since the 2022 BMW PGA at Wentworth
Ted for the 54-hole lead with Austin Smotherman on 13 under-par, the Offaly man (38)made a 45-footer for birdie at the fifth before playing five holes from the ninth in a scintillating five-under-par to head Echavarria by three shots on 19-under with five to play.
After he parred the 14th, he still had to negotiate the dangerous Bear Trap holes.
But after making a solid par three at the 184-yard 15th, he hit a driving iron miles right into water at the 16th and had to produce a world-class sand save to salvage a double bogey six.
He still had a one-shot lead as he trudged to the 166-yard 17th tee, but after watching Echavarria make a birdie two up ahead to draw level on 17-under, he carved his tee shot into the water and ran up another double bogey.
Echavarriva (31) went to the last with a two-shot lead and after closing with a par five to shoot 66 at set the target at 17-under, Lowry could not find the eagle three he needed to force sudden-death.
He bunkered his approach shot and watched his third run past the edge and closed with a par to shoot 69 and tie for second with Moore (68) and Smotherman (69) on 15-under.
It was a sickening finish for the Clara native, whose last individual win on US soil came in the 2015 WGC Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone.
He looked like a man on a mission from the start, having carded an eight under 63 on Saturday to tie for the lead.
After being forced to make a ten-footer for par at the first, he rolled in a 45-footer for a two at the fifth to tie for the lead with Smotherman, Taylor Moore and Echavarría on 14 under.
He looked set to bogey the sixth after almost finding water from the tee and coming up 19 feet shy with his third from the greenside rough.
But he brushed in the par putt and clenched his fist in celebration, and while Echavarria re-took the lead with a birdie at the eighth, Lowry chipped in from 16 feet for a birdie at the ninth to match the Colombian on 15-under.
Playing just ahead, Echavarria regained the lead with another birdie at the tenth, but Lowry responded in style, rolling in a 15-footer for a stunning eagle three there to move a shot clear on 17-under.
After parring the 11th, he flirted with trouble at the 12th but narrowly avoided a deep fairway bunker and went on to make birdie thanks to a brilliant wedge from the rough to five feet.
He then extended his lead to three strokes by making a 20-footer at the 13th to get to 19-under before his title dream was mangled in the Bear Trap.
It was also a disappointing day for Seamus Power, who had to settle for a tie for 52nd on three under after making a triple-bogey eight at the last for a closing 70.
The West Waterford man was four under playing the last, but after driving into sand, he splashed only to put his third in a greenside bunker and take three more shots to find the green.
