Shane Lowry admits missing out on an opportunity to celebrate a victory with his youngest daughter Ivy is a bitter pill to swallow after he threw away the Cognizant Classic to extend his near four year wait for a win on tour.
Lowry held a three shot lead with three holes to play but back to back double bogeys on 16 and 17 allowed Nico Echavarria to steal in and nick the title at PGA National.
Lowry’s eldest daughter Iris was there when he won the 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush and while he has won the 2022 BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth and the Zurich Classic team event with Rory McIlroy, his now four-year-old daughter Ivy wasn’t there.
So Sunday was his big chance to have a crowning family moment in Florida but that will have to wait another week at least.
“The hardest thing about today is I’ve never won in front of my four-year-old, and she was there waiting for me,” said Lowry who knows he doesn’t win as much as he should.
“I only wanted it for her today. I didn’t want it for — 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 didn’t get ahead of myself, but I felt so comfortable out there, and then yeah, tried to get a lot out of my three-iron on 16 and did the only thing I couldn’t really do.”
For now, the Offaly man will have to pick himself up and get back on the saddle at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill – another course where he has a good record.
“Yeah, you have no choice, do you. I have a tee time next Thursday in Bay Hill, and I have no choice but to move on,” added Lowry who now has converted just one of his six 54-hole leads on the PGA Tour.
Leave a comment