Shane Lowry and Austin Smotherman tied for the Cognizant Classic lead at 13 under
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Shane Lowry has yet another chance to win at PGA National.
The native of Ireland who now calls South Florida home had a bogey-free round of 8-under 63 on Saturday, moving to 13 under and finishing with a share of the lead following three rounds of the Cognizant Classic.
He’s tied with Austin Smotherman, who battled his way to a 69. Lowry said his goal going into Saturday — which had tee times moved up because of anticipated bad weather — was just to get into one of the final two groups for Sunday, then did a little better than that.
“You want to be near the leaders, keep an eye on them and see what they’re doing,” Lowry said. “If the conditions are like this tomorrow, there (are) low scores out there, so someone could come from the pack. It’s not necessarily easy to lead around this golf course. There’s a lot of very difficult shots. But I’m up there where I want to be. I’ve had a few chances to win this tournament, and hopefully I can convert it tomorrow.”
He’s had more than a few. It’s almost become an annual tradition.
Lowry was second in 2022 when the event was still called the Honda Classic, losing the lead in a most bizarre fashion at the end — getting caught in a deluge that wreaked havoc on the final hole. Sepp Straka wound up winning by one shot, and Lowry wound up getting soaked.
“You get good breaks and bad breaks, and that was a bad break,” Lowry said. “Yeah, we’ll see. Hopefully none of that tomorrow.”
He tied for fifth at PGA National a year later, had the solo lead going into the final round of the Cognizant before finishing tied for fourth in 2024, then tied for 11th last year.
“There wasn’t much wind out there, so there’s certain things that aligned today to make it play easy enough, wind direction being one of them,” Lowry said. “But you still need to go out there and hit the shots. The greens are firm. It can get away from you if you’re not hitting the ball well. I felt like I did everything pretty good today.”
It seemed like things tried to get away from Smotherman — who led after Rounds 1 and 2 as well — a few times on Saturday, but he held it together just enough to finish knotted for the top spot.
Back-to-back bogeys on the par-4 6th and the par-3 7th threatened to throw his round off-stride, but a birdie-birdie finish might have given him a little momentum headed into Sunday as he seeks what would be his first PGA Tour victory.
Nico Echavarria (66) and Taylor Moore (67) were a shot back at 12 under, and Jimmy Stanger — who’ll earn a check on tour for the first time since April 2024, after spending the last two years dealing with serious elbow issues — is alone in fifth at 11 under after shooting a 65 Saturday.
“It just feels good to be back,” Stanger said. “It feels good to be playing a weekend. It’s been a couple years. It’s good to be healthy. It’s just a cherry on top to be in contention here this week.”
Moving Day, as Saturdays tend to be called on tour, had some movers.
Lowry’s 63 tied Patton Kizzire for the round of the day; Kizzire moved up 45 spots into a tie for ninth at 8 under. Keith Mitchell and Beau Hossler both shot 64s to join Kizzire there, five shots behind the leaders.
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