Shane Lowry’s late collapse hands Nico Echavarria the Cognizant Classic

Shane Lowry’s face flushed red. It wasn’t the effects of the Florida sun.

Standing on the tee of the par-4 16th at PGA National on Sunday afternoon, the Irishman looked stunned — suddenly unsure of what he was seeing or feeling — moments after flaring a long iron into the water, a shot so errant it barely crossed dry land before disappearing with a splash.

Only minutes earlier, Lowry had held a three-shot lead at the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches, in command of the tournament and poised to end a decade-plus stroke-play drought on American soil at an event where he had come agonizingly close before.

Instead, the swing marked the start of a shocking collapse.

The resulting 6 — salvaged only by a deft up-and-down from a greenside bunker — was the first of two consecutive double bogeys that shrank his lead to one and then erased it altogether, opening the door for Nico Echavarria, playing in the group ahead, to claim his third PGA Tour victory.

“To be honest, I didn’t think it was going to be possible with a three-shot lead that he had,” Echavarria said. “But the Bear Trap played harder today than any of the other three days. It was playing into the wind.”

That’s one way to see it. But Lowry — a major champion and match-play hero — wasn’t mauled by PGA National’s notorious closing stretch. His wounds were self-inflicted.

“I’m obviously extremely disappointed,” Lowry said. “I had the tournament in my hands and I threw it away. What more can I say? That’s twice so far this year. I’m getting good at it.”

That was a reference to January’s Dubai Invitational on the DP World Tour, where Lowry was tied for the lead when an air-mailed wedge and a botched bunker shot on the final hole blew up his chances. At PGA National, the unraveling was more prolonged — and more painful.

“I just couldn’t feel the clubface the last three holes after my tee shot on 16,” he said. “It was strange.”

The turnabout was startling for a player who had appeared fully in command. Lowry entered the final round fresh off a Saturday 63. Tied for the lead to start the day, he surged in front with a five-under five-hole stretch, highlighted by an eagle on the par-5 10th.

It seemed finally time for Lowry to break through in his adoptive home of Florida, where his links-born game has adapted nicely. He has four top-11 finishes in his last four starts at PGA National, including three consecutive top-fives. The most agonizing came in 2022, when he reached the 72nd hole needing a birdie to force a playoff but fell short when a sudden squall swept across the course. That was tough to swallow. But Lowry drew a distinction between the disappointment of 2022 and Sunday’s heartache.

“I wouldn’t say that was a stumble,” he said. “I’d say I was beaten that day. But I beat myself today.”

Before his round, Lowry had spent time on the range with mental coach Bob Rotella. The two reportedly talked about keeping things simple and staying relaxed. For most of the afternoon, it seemed to be working.

Then came the tee shot on 16, followed by additional calamity on the par-3 17th, which brought the day into sharp relief. Playing one group ahead of Lowry, Echavarria pushed his tee shot, which flirted perilously with the water but settled beneath the hole, leaving a relatively straightforward birdie putt. Seizing on the good break, Echavarria drained the putt then learned from his caddie walking to the 18th tee that Lowry had found the water again with another wildly errant tee shot.

Echavarria finished with a tidy 66, completing a bogey-free round on one of the Tour’s sternest tests. It capped a big week on both a professional and personal front. On Friday, he and his wife had closed on a nearby home. They’d also acquired a dog, a Bernedoodle.

Lowry, by contrast, hadn’t closed on anything. And all that he’d acquired was another line item in a list of tortured finishes, including at last year’s Truist Championship outside Philadelphia, where he entered Sunday with the lead only to fade down the stretch and fall to Sepp Straka.

Needing a long-shot eagle on 18 to force a playoff at PGA National, Lowry knocked his second shot into a bunker and walked off with par. His face was still flushed, his body language slumped.

“The hardest thing about today is I’ve never won in front of my four-year-old, and she was waiting for me,” Lowry said. “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.”

After the Truist last year, Lowry had declined to meet with the press. This time he faced up to every question— even the one he couldn’t answer.

What in the heck happened?

Lowry shrugged. “Golf does strange things to you at times, and it certainly did it to me today.”