{"id":511467,"date":"2026-03-03T11:07:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T11:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/511467\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T11:07:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T11:07:09","slug":"nico-echavarria-takes-cognizant-classic-after-shane-lowry-melt-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/511467\/","title":{"rendered":"Nico Echavarria takes Cognizant Classic after Shane Lowry melt down"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Nico Echavarria of Colombia holds the Cognizant Classic Trophy at the end of the final round of the Cognizant Classic golf tournament on Sunday in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.Marta Lavandier\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Nico Echavarria didn\u2019t make a bogey all weekend. Shane Lowry was on his way to doing the same, until the very end.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s what decided the Cognizant Classic.<\/p>\n

Echavarria \u2013 who was three shots back with three holes left \u2013 shot a five-under 66 on Sunday to win at PGA National, finishing at 17-under 267 and beating Lowry (69), Austin Smotherman (69) and Taylor Moore (68) by two shots.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a blessing today,\u201d Echavarria said. \u201cI didn\u2019t have my best off the tee, but I was able to manage. I had some good breaks. To win out here, sometimes you have to have good breaks if you\u2019re not Scottie Scheffler that hits it every time in the perfect place. So, I\u2019m happy with how it went.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lowry \u2013 who remains snakebit by PGA National, where he has now finished in the top 11 for five straight years without a victory \u2013 was undone by consecutive double bogeys at the par-four 16th and par-three 17th, both resulting from tee shots that drifted way right and into the water.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had the tournament in my hands and I threw it away,\u201d Lowry said. \u201cWhat more can I say?\u201d<\/p>\n

It was Echavarria\u2019s third PGA Tour win and first in the United States, and this one earned a second Masters invitation for the 31-year-old from Colombia. The US$1.728-million winner\u2019s cheque was the biggest of his career, about US$200,000 more than what he got for winning the Zozo Championship in Japan in 2024.<\/p>\n

He could use the cash, too. Echavarria closed on a house in South Florida last week, and promised his wife that when he got his third win, they would add a dog to the family.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was hitting the ball good, and here we are,\u201d Echavarria said. \u201cWe\u2019re getting a dog.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Shane Lowry reacts after hitting the ball past the hole from the bunker on 17 during the final round of the Cognizant Classic golf tournament.Reinhold Matay\/Reuters<\/p>\n

A.J. Ewart of Coquitlam, B.C., finished tied for 13th at nine under \u2013 eight shots back of the winner. Sudarshan Yellamaraju of Mississauga, Ont., finished tied for 17th at eight under. Mackenzie Hughes of Hamilton, Ont., finished tied for 23rd at seven under. And Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., finished tied for 40th at four under.<\/p>\n

Lowry \u2013 who also had Sunday leads at PGA National in 2022 and 2024 \u2013 was rolling along, chipping in for birdie on the par-four ninth to start a run where he went five under in a five-hole stretch.<\/p>\n

And he had a three-shot lead over Echavarria going to the par-four 16th. That\u2019s where his nightmare began.<\/p>\n

Lowry\u2019s long iron off the tee was way right and found the water. After a penalty drop, he hit a wedge back to the fairway and his fourth shot found a greenside bunker. From an awkward stance, he blasted to 3 1\/2 feet and rolled in the putt for double bogey \u2013 trimming his lead to one.<\/p>\n

While all that was happening, Echavarria hit his approach on the par-three 17th to about 10 feet. He made the putt to pull into a tie, punching the air as he watched the ball roll into the hole.<\/p>\n

Lowry then made another double at 17 with an iron shot that was well short and right. He needed a miracle on the par-five 18th after playing his second shot into a greenside bunker. Lowry\u2019s shot from nearly 30 yards skidded by, and Echavarria \u2013 in the scoring tent, watching the finish \u2013 knew he had won.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s uncharacteristic for Shane, a major champion, but it\u2019s just a testament to what this game is like,\u201d Smotherman said. \u201cI mean, you just have to stay in it for 72 holes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lowry was second in 2022 when the event was still called the Honda Classic, losing the lead after getting caught in a deluge on the final hole. He tied for fifth at PGA National a year later, had the solo lead going into the final round before finishing tied for fourth in 2024, then tied for 11th last year.<\/p>\n

This was, on paper, his best finish at PGA National. It just didn\u2019t feel that way.<\/p>\n

Doubleheaders for Homa, Kim<\/p>\n

Max Homa (tied for 13th) and Tom Kim (59th) had a doubleheader Sunday. They were playing for Jupiter Links in a TGL match Sunday night, just about eight kilometres away from PGA National. Homa wasn\u2019t sure if he\u2019d ever had two competitive events in one day before.<\/p>\n

\u201cI doubt I have,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m sure when I was young I might have got close, but I can\u2019t think of it off the top of my head.\u201d<\/p>\n

Notes<\/p>\n

Brooks Koepka and Ben Silverman played all four rounds together this week \u2013 and both holed out for birdie from the sand on the par-four 14th Sunday. \u201cI\u2019m sure he\u2019s tired of me now,\u201d Koepka said. \u201cHe\u2019s a good player. I\u2019ve known him for a long time.\u201d Koepka closed with a 65 to finish in a tie for ninth, by far his best finish since returning to the PGA Tour. \u2026 Defending champion Joe Highsmith finished 67th out of 67 players who made the cut. He finished at six-over 290, 25 shots worse than one year ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Nico Echavarria of Colombia holds the Cognizant Classic Trophy at the end of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":511468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,622,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,82,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-511467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-golf","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}