MORE LATE DRAMA PROVES COSTLY FOR LOWRY
Shane Lowry suffered two late double bogeys that ultimately cost him the chance of winning the Cognizant Classic on the PGA Tour (PGA Tour)
By Paul Gallagher
Shane Lowry was left with a bitter, bitter taste after letting a seemingly certain victory slip from his grasp at the PGA Tour’s Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches where the renowned ‘Bear Trap’ lived up to its billing.
Lowry had held a three stroke lead in the latter stages of the final round, only to come undone with back-to-back double bogeys at the 16th and 17th to finish tied second and two back from eventual winner, Columbia’s Nico Echavarria.
The Ryder Cup hero appeared to have lost his swing at the worst time as he found water off the tees at both the 16th and the par three 17th. It was a painful watch as the Irishman failed to get over the line in a tournament he had enjoyed four top five finishes in the last five years.
“I'm obviously extremely disappointed. I had the tournament in my hands, and I threw it away,” said a disappointed Lowry after his round.
“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 admitted.
Unfortunately for Lowry, he endured a similar fate at the Dubai Invitational on the DP World Tour in January when he ran up another double bogey on the final hole to lose to Nacho Elvira.
“I’d say I was beaten that day. But I beat myself today,” Lowry said. “What more can I say? That's twice this year now so far. I'm getting good at it. 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. It's never happened to me before.
“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.”
The 2019 Open Champion said one of the most difficult things to take was not being able to share the potential win with his four-year-old daughter, who was at the tournament for the first time.
“I only wanted it for her today. 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 have a tee time next Thursday in Bay Hill,” Lowry said, “and I have no choice but to move on.”
Seamus Power finished tied 52nd with rounds of 71, 67, 73, 70.