PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Nico Echavarria went all weekend without a bogey. Sean Lowry was doing the same thing until the very end.
That’s the deciding factor for Cognizant Classic.
Echavarria, three shots behind with three holes to play, shot a 5-under 66 on Sunday at PGA National to finish at 17-under 267, beating Lowry (69), Austin Smotherman (69) and Tyler Moore (68) by two strokes.
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“Sometimes you have to take a break,” Echavarria said.
He got them. Lowry didn’t.
Lowry remains in serpentine form at PGA National, having finished in the top 11 for five consecutive years without a win. He had back-to-back double bogeys on the par-4 16th hole and the par-3 17th hole, both times caused by tee shots that drifted right into the water.
It was Echavarria’s third PGA Tour victory and his first in the United States, earning the 31-year-old from Colombia his second Masters invitation. The $1.728 million payout is the largest of his career and is about $200,000 more than what he earned when he won the Zozo Championship in Japan in 2024.
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Lowry has been a contender at PGA National for the past five years, with leads in 2022 and 2024. He worked his way up and birdied the par-4 ninth to start a five-hole stretch at 5 under.
He held a three-stroke lead over Echavarria entering the par-4 16th hole. This is where his nightmare begins.
Lowry hit the long iron right off the tee and found the water. After the penalty, he hit his wedge back to the fairway and found a greenside bunker on his fourth shot. He lunged to 3 1/2 feet from an awkward position and rolled the putt for double bogey, cutting the lead to one.
When all this happened, Echavarria was hitting his shot about 10 feet away on the par-3 17th hole. As he watched the ball roll into the hole, he drew the putt and pumped his fist in the air.
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Lowry followed with another two-run single in the 17th with a short, right iron shot. After hitting his second shot into a greenside bunker on the par-5 18th, he needed a miracle. Lowry’s nearly 30-yard field goal slid past, and Echavarria watched the game end in the scoring tent, knowing he had the win.
Lowry finished second in 2022, when the event was still called the Honda Classic, but lost the lead after flooding on the final hole. A year later, he tied for fifth at PGA National and held the solo lead entering the final round, then tied for fourth in 2024 and tied for 11th last year.
On paper, it was his best finish at PGA National. It just doesn’t feel like that.
Homa and King’s Doubles
Max Homa (tied for 13th) and Tom Kim (59th) played a doubles match on Sunday. They were playing in a TGL event Sunday night for the Jupiter Links team, about five miles from PGA National. Homa isn’t sure he’s ever competed in two games in one day.
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“I doubt I have,” he said. “I’m sure I might have been close when I was younger, but I couldn’t imagine it in a vacuum.”
notes
Brooks Koepka and Ben Silverman played all four rounds together this week and both birdied the par-4 Sunday 14th in the sand. “I’m sure he’s tired of me now,” Koepka said. “He’s a great player. I’ve known him for a long time.” Koepka finished tied for ninth with a 65, his best finish since returning to the PGA Tour. Max McGreevy hit an albatross on the par-5 third hole. The PGA Tour said this is the first time in 20 years that PGA National will be held at the course. Defending champion Joe Highsmith finished 67th out of 67 qualifying competitors. He finished with a 6-over 290, 25 fewer strokes than a year ago.
