Four years ago, when the Cognizant Classic was called the Honda Classic, Shane Lowry appeared the likely victor until heavy rain on the last hole thwarted him. That gave Sepp Straka an unexpected opportunity to win. Lowry recalled the moment after taking the 54-hole lead at this year’s event.
“You get good breaks and bad breaks. That was a bad break,” he said. “Hopefully, none of that tomorrow.”
Unfortunately for Lowry, there was plenty of that down the stretch with back-to-back water balls off the tee (both with an iron, no less). That erased a three-shot lead and handed Nico Echavarria the win.
“To win out here sometimes you have to have good breaks,” Echavarria said afterwards.
Although Echavarria likely doesn’t win without Lowry’s implosion, “handed” might be a bit unfair. Echavarria played the weekend with back-to-back 66s. Each round consisted of five birdies, 13 pars and zero blemishes on the card. The clutch swing came on the 17th, where a 7-iron tee shot on the par 3 to 10 feet led to a birdie that put the heat on Lowry, who rinsed his tee ball on the same hole moments later.
Echavarria utilises a split set of Srixon irons, with the shot he hit on 17 being the company’s ZXi7 model, the most recent offering for better players. For the week, Echavarria ranked fourth in strokes gained/approach.
On the greens, Echavarria was seventh in strokes gained/putting with his Odyssey Tri-Hot 5K 7 mallet, the same putter he used to win the 2024 Zozo Championship.
And a club that’s not likely to leave the bag anytime soon.
What Nico Echavarria had in the bag at the 2026 Cognizant Classic
Ball: Srixon Z-Star Diamond
Driver: Srixon ZXi Diamond (Mitsubishi Diamana BB 73 TX), 9 degrees
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10, 15 degrees
5-wood: PXG Lightning, 18 degrees
Irons (4-5): Srixon ZXi5; (6-PW): Srixon ZXi7
Wedges: Cleveland RTZ (50, 54, 58 degrees)
Putter: Odyssey Tri-Hot 5K
