The Irishman, winner of the 2019 Open Championship, looked firmly on course for a fourth PGA Tour title after piling up an eagle and four birdies across his opening 13 holes to establish a three-shot cushion with three to play.
The Irishman, winner of the 2019 Open Championship, looked firmly on course for a fourth PGA Tour title after piling up an eagle and four birdies across his opening 13 holes to establish a three-shot cushion with three to play.
But tee shots found the water at both the 16th and 17th holes, leading to back-to-back double bogeys and opening the door for Nico Echavarria. The Colombian capitalised on a flawless, bogey-free weekend to secure his third PGA Tour win.
It was another late capitulation for Lowry, who surrendered the recent Dubai Invitational to Spain’s Nacho Elvira in similar fashion.
“I had the tournament in my hands, and I threw it away. That’s twice this year now so far,” he said. “I’m getting good at it.”
Lowry had just completed the 16th with his lead reduced to one when Echavarria, playing in the penultimate group, fired a bold tee shot at the par-three 17th that skirted the water and finished 10 feet from the flag, before calmly rolling in the birdie putt.
Moments later, Lowry’s troubles continued at the same hole, and in the space of a few minutes, he went from leading the tournament to trailing by two shots.
“I’m glad that ball on 17 stayed up,” Echavarria said. “My caddie told me, ‘Hey, it’s over, the ball is safe. You have the easiest putt you can have, straight up the hill, so let’s make this putt, and that was the mindset.”
“Geez, this is going to be hard to take,” Lowry added. “Dubai was hard at the start of the year, but this is going to be pretty hard.
“Golf does strange things to you at times, and it certainly did to me today.”
Lowry ultimately closed with a two-under 69, finishing the tournament on 15-under-par 269 and sharing second place alongside Alex Smotherman and fellow American Taylor Moore.
Elsewhere, five-time major champion Brooks Koepka continued his return to the PGA Tour with an impressive closing 65 to cliam his first top-10 finish.
