The Cognizant Classic

In a dramatic conclusion to the 2026 Cognizant Classic held at PGA National, Colombia’s Nico Echivarria secured his third PGA Tour title, capitalizing on a shocking late collapse by fan-favourite Shane Lowry.

Echivarria’s bogey-free weekend was capped off with a final round 5-under 66, finishing at 17-under-par, two strokes ahead of Shane Lowry and American Taylor Moore. He came away with a very nice payday securing the winner’s share of the purse, an incredible $1.728 million.

For much of the Sunday, the tournament seemed to be in Lowry’s hands. The Irishman held a 3-stroke lead with just 3 holes to play, however the treacherous ‘Bear Trap’ lived up to its reputation. Lowry’s horror began on the par-4 16^th, where his tee shot found the water, leading to a double bogey.

Shaken, he repeated the mistake on the par-3 17^th, dunking another ball into the hazard for back-to-back double bogeys. While Lowry faltered, Echivarria’s game remained clinical, Playing in the penultimate group, he birdied the 17^th hole to pull ahead just as Lowry’s lead evaporated. The victory marks his first win on U.S. soil and earned him a coveted invitation to the Masters. Summing up his triumph he remarked “I’m happy with how I managed the weekend”.

Lowry however was understandably distraught with how he came so close to winning only to drop to second place on the last few holes of the tournament. He admitted “I’m obviously extremely disappointed. I had the tournament in my hands, and I threw it away. What more can I say? That’s twice this year now so far. I’m getting good at it.”

Lowry was of course referring to the recent Dubai Invitational when he narrowly missed out on victory to Nacho Elvira. With tournaments like The Players and The Masters in just a few weeks time, players will be trying their best to get their game in-form and perform to the best of their ability.

Who do you think will be trying on the green jacket at the end of this year’s first major? We can’t wait for all the action to unfold. We’ll be right here as always in the pro shop if you’d like to pop by for a chat when you visit the course this week.