The body language and gestures told their own stories as Shane Lowry struggled on the greens with a cold putter in hand in shooting an opening round of one-under-par 70 in the Cognizant Classic on the Champion course at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
Lowry had one of those days where he failed to convert a number of birdie chances, compounded by poor scrambling where he only managed to get up and down to save par once of the four occasions he missed the greens for a 25 per cent conversion rate as the putter also refused to be his saviour.
On a favoured course close to his home where he has traditionally played well – runner-up in 2022, tied-fifth in 2023, tied-fourth in 2024 and tied-11th last year – Lowry’s 70 left him playing catch-up on early clubhouse leader Austin Smotherman, who shot a superb nine-under-par 62 which included a run of six straight birdies on a hot streak from the seventh to the 12th.
In contrast, Lowry’s round of four birdies and three bogeys didn’t deliver on the potential, with the short game and putting the sources of his ire.
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Where Smotherman’s putter was on fire with a total of 132 feet 2 inches made, Lowry’s total of putts made came to 50 feet 8 inches. Nico Echavarria of Colombia posted a 63 in which he excelled with his scrambling in making five from five par saves when missing with approach shots – including a magnificent effort from the water on the 17th – and running up 111 feet 9 inches in total putts made.
Indeed, the strokes gained putting statistics were enlightening: where Smotherman’s came in at 3.44 for his round, Lowry’s languished at -2.37 for the telltale evidence of his discomfort on the putting surfaces.
There had been some criticism from players ahead of the tournament that the course had become easier for scoring in recent years, and Billy Horschel – who played in the same group with Lowry – revealed after his opening 69 that the issue had been discussed as they made their way around the course.
“I was talking to Shane, and he talked about (in the past) you could get to 8-under par and win this thing. I think he said a couple years ago when he had a chance to win, I think it was ’22 when Sepp made three or four birdies coming in, and Shane got unlucky on 18 with the weather rolling in.
“He said he had a two-shot lead with four to play, and he parred the last four holes or five holes and lost the tournament by a shot. That’s unusual. Or you usually would win that. Obviously Sepp went out there and did something special to win it.
“Listen, I’ve always been a big fan of 8- to 12-under par, 15 at most winning. I think that really says the course played fair, in my opinion. I think it really shows the players at the top, they were the guys that really truly probably played the best that week because it rewarded probably really good driving, iron play, short game, all that,” said Horschel.
Straka was actually 10-under when beating Lowry by a stroke in 2022, but course conditioning with lesser rough has seen Austin Eckroat win with -17 in 2024 and Joe Highsmith with a winning score of -19 last year.
Smotherman’s opening nine-under 62 got the American off to a flying start with another high birdies content on the cards at the first of the Florida Swing events, which continues with next week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational and the following week’s Players championship.
