PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Nico Echavarria did not hit a bogey all weekend. Shane Rowley adopted the identical path till the tip.
That was what outlined Cognizant Traditional.
Trailing by three strokes with three holes remaining, Echavarria shot a 5-under 66 to win Sunday at PGA Nationwide, ending with a 17-under 267 and beating Lowry (69), Austin Smotherman (69) and Taylor Moore (68) by two strokes.
“At present was a blessing,” Echavarria stated. “I wasn’t at my finest off the tee, however I used to be in a position to deal with it. I made some good breaks. To win right here, generally you want good breaks, until you are Scotty Scheffler, hitting the right spot each time, so I am pleased with the consequence.”
Lowry suffered back-to-back double bogeys on the sixteenth par-4 and seventeenth par-3, each of which have been attributable to his tee shot drifting far to the proper and into the water. He is nonetheless snakebitten out of PGA Nationwide, now ending within the high 11 for 5 consecutive years and not using a win.
“Clearly very disillusioned,” Lowry stated. “I had a event in my fingers and I threw it away. What extra can I say? It is occurred twice to date this 12 months. I am getting higher. … I performed unbelievable all day after which one dangerous shot on 16 utterly destroyed me the final three holes. It is by no means occurred to me earlier than.”
It was Echavarria’s third win on the PGA Tour and his first on U.S. soil, incomes the 31-year-old Colombian his second Masters invitation. The $1.728 million winner’s test is the most important of his profession and is about $200,000 greater than he earned when he gained the ZOZO Championship in Japan in 2024.
He might additionally use money. Echavarria put a contract on a home in South Florida final week and promised his spouse that if he gained a 3rd time, he would add a canine to the household.
“I used to be hitting the ball effectively, and I received right here,” Echavarria stated. “We will get a canine.”
He turned the sixth South American participant to win no less than 3 times on the PGA Tour, becoming a member of Camilo Villegas, Roberto de Vicenzo, Jonathan Vegas, Carlos Franco and Angel Cabrera.
Lowry, who has been in rivalry for victory at PGA Nationwide in every of the previous 5 years and led late in 2022 and 2024, has been on a roll, birdieing the par-4 ninth and beginning 5-under for 5 straight holes.
Till the par-4 sixteenth gap, he had a three-stroke lead over Echavarria. That is when his nightmare started.
Lowry’s 3-iron off the tee — the identical membership he’d been hitting there all week — was pretty correct and hit the water. After a penalty drop, he hit his wedge again into the green and his fourth shot settled right into a greenside bunker. From a clumsy stance, he hit the ball three and a half ft, rolled the putt and suffered a double bogey.
In the meantime, Echavarria pulled his strategy to about 10 ft on the par-3 seventeenth. He watched the ball roll into the outlet and made the putt to tie the rating.
Lowry then hit one other double on the seventeenth, however the iron shot went vast of the body. After hitting his second shot right into a greenside bunker on the par-5 18th, he wanted a miracle. Lowry’s shot from practically 30 yards grazed the ball, and Echavarria, who was watching the end within the scoring tent, knew he had gained.
“I did not suppose it was potential,” Echavarria stated.
Lowry was second in 2022 when the occasion was nonetheless referred to as the Honda Traditional, however misplaced the lead after being caught in a deluge on the ultimate gap. A 12 months later, he tied for fifth at PGA Nationwide, going into the ultimate spherical as the only lead, earlier than tied for fourth in 2024 and tied for eleventh final 12 months.
On paper, this was his finest consequence at PGA Nationwide. It did not really feel that manner.
Lowry hasn’t gained a person victory within the U.S. because the 2015 Bridgestone Invitational. He teamed up with Rory McIlroy to win the 2024 Zurich Traditional, and the 38-year-old helped win the marginally larger crew occasion, the Ryder Cup, at Bethpage Black final 12 months, stopping America’s dream of a historic comeback with an important putt.
“Why am I feeling this fashion now after going by way of what I did in Bethpage final September and getting fined?” Lowry stated. “It simply felt bizarre. After the final three holes and after the tee shot on the sixteenth, I could not really feel the clubface. It was bizarre. What can I say? I am so disillusioned. That is going to be arduous to simply accept.”
Brooks Koepka shot a 65 to tie for ninth place, his finest end since returning to the PGA Tour.
This report used data from ESPN Analysis and The Related Press.
