‘One bad shot on 16 completely threw me’ - Lowry gutted not to win for four-year-old daughter Ivy

Shane Lowry was gutted at PGA National

Shane Lowry was “extremely disappointed” to blow the Cognizant Classic with back-to-back double bogeys to hand the title to Colombia’s Nico Echavarria.

The big Offaly man was at a loss to explain why he wafted a three-iron tee shot into a lake at the 16th when leading by three shots with three holes to play at PGA National, where Sepp Straka’s hot finish and a freak rainstorm had denied him the title in 2022.

He played like a man inspired for 13 holes last night, reeling off an eagle and four birdies to stand poised to end a three-and-a-half-year wait for an individual victory.

But while he knows that there will be plenty of second-guessing him now after he also rinsed his tee shot at the 17th and added to the painful final hole double bogey that gifted January’s Dubai Invitational to Nacho Elvira, he was almost more disappointed for his four-year-old daughter, Ivy.

“I'm obviously extremely disappointed,” Lowry said after closing with a 69 to tie for second with Austin Smotheman and Taylor Moore on 15-under, two shots behind Echavarria, who shot 66 to win his third PGA Tour title by two strokes. 

“I had the tournament in my hands, and I threw it away. What more can I say? That's twice this year now so far. I'm getting good at it.”

There was no hiding from the fact that he collapsed under pressure down one of the most treacherous finishing stretches on the PGA Tour

He was already reeling after his wild tee shot at the 16th. Still, the sight of Echavarria rolling in a 10-footer for birdie at the 17th to draw level clearly prompted the blocked seven iron that found water again, leading to what proved to be another devastating double bogey.

“Yeah, look, what can I say? I played unbelievable all day, and one bad shot on 16 completely threw me for the last three holes,” admitted the 2019 Open champion and 2025 Ryder Cup hero who needed to make a bunker shot at the last for eagle to force sudden-death but made only a par. 

“It's never happened to me before.

“I said to (my caddie) Darren, how do I feel like this now when I went through what I did last September in Bethpage and got through that fine?

“I just felt like it was weird out there; I just really -- yeah, just couldn't feel the club face the last three holes, then after my tee shot on 16. It was strange.

“What can I say? It's very disappointing. Geez, this is going to be hard to take. Dubai was hard at the start of the year, but this is going to be pretty hard.”

He wasn't nearly as disappointed to lose to Straka in 2022, but with his close calls mounting, victories are proving elusive for a player who is clearly at the peak of his power 

While he won the 54-hole BMW PGA in 2022 with a closing 65, Lowry has won just once in 13 starts - the 2019 Open Championship - when going into the final round inside the top three 

“I wouldn't say that was a stumble,” he said of the 2022 loss to Straka. “I'd say I was beaten that day. But I beat myself today.

“Today I hit two really bad shots at the wrong time, and that's what this course does to you.”

He knows he has no option now but to haul himself back into the saddle for this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.

But it's clear that for a man who admits he doesn't win as much as he should, despite playing only the game’s top-tier events, every near miss makes it harder to get over the line.

His eldest daughter, Iris, was famously waiting for him on the 72nd green at Royal Portrush in 2019

But Ivy was too little to see him win at Wentworth in 2022 or enjoy his 2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans win alongside partner Rory McIlroy.

“The hardest thing about today is I've never won in front of my four-year-old, and she was there waiting for me,” Lowry said after winning $726,400, and his late mistakes cost him just over $1 million. “I only wanted it for her today. 

“I didn't want it for -- I don't care about anything else. I wanted it so bad. Just to see her little ginger hair running down 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.

I didn't get ahead of myself, but I felt so comfortable out there, and then yeah, tried to get a lot out of my 3-iron on 16 and did the only thing I couldn't really do.”

Lowry did well to salvage a double bogey at the 16th with a magical sand save and remain one ahead. But his mind was already scrambled, and seeing Echavarria narrowly avoid water at the 17th and make the putt to snatch the lead proved the last straw

“I had an unbelievable up-and-down, obviously, to make six and stay one ahead, but then I go up and watch Nico hole that putt for birdie to go tied for the lead,” he admitted.

“Like, it was a perfect number for me, and it suited me perfectly. The wind was slightly out of the left, and that's my bread and butter: a little chip 7-iron. But golf does strange things to you at times, and it certainly did it to me today.”