Shane Lowry rues missing out on victory in front of daughter after costly finish

Shane Lowry admitted he was “extremely disappointed” after missing out on victory in front of his four-year-old daughter as he surrendered a three-shot lead down the stretch at the Cognizant Classic in Florida.

Lowry looked on course for a commanding victory at Palm Beach Gardens on Sunday, only to hit his tee shots into water on the 16th and 17th holes to record costly back-to-back double bogeys.

That allowed Colombia’s Nico Echavarria to close out a two-stroke victory on 17 under, with Lowry slipping back into a three-way tie for second on 15 under.

"I've never won in front of my four-year old...I only wanted it for her today."

Raw emotions from 54-hole co-leader Shane Lowry after letting a three shot lead slip away @The_Cognizant. pic.twitter.com/0hStLmlTGA

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 1, 2026

“I’m obviously extremely disappointed,” Lowry said in a post-round interview. “I had the tournament in my hands and I threw it away, what more can I say?

“I played unbelievable all day and then one bad shot on 16 and it completely threw me for the last three holes. It’s never happened to me before.

“I said to Darren (Reynolds, his caddie) ‘how do I feel like this now when I went through what I did last September at Bethpage (at the Ryder Cup) and I got through it fine?’, and it was weird out there, I just couldn’t feel the club face on the last three holes after my tee shot on 16, it was strange.

“It’s very disappointing, this is going to be hard to take.”

He continued: “The hardest thing about today is that I’ve never won in front of my four-year-old.

What a day