Nico Echavarria of Colombia picked up his third-career PGA Tour win at the 2026 Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches. He defeated Taylor Moore, Shane Lowry and Austin Smotherman by two strokes.
Echavarria shot a bogey-free final round of 66 (-5) to seal his victory. He made the fewest number of bogeys of any player in the field this week, at just three. The Colombian sat two strokes behind the leaders heading into the final round. After the opening nine holes, he was tied with Lowry at the top of the leaderboard.
Lowry took control of the tournament during a four-hole stretch where he made one eagle and two birdies to gain a three-stroke lead entering the Bear Trap. The Bear Trap is a three-hole stretch on the PGA National Champion Course that Jack Nicklaus designed to be particularly tricky. After a par on the 15th hole, Lowry stood on the 16th tee with a 96.7% chance of winning the tournament. But his tee ball found the water, leading to a double bogey that shrunk his lead down to one.
Echavarria was one hole ahead of Lowry, and hit his tee shot on the par-3 17th hole to 10 feet for birdie. He made his putt to tie Lowry at 17-under. Lowry put his tee shot on the 17th hole into the water and made another double bogey. He was the only player all week to make back-to-back double bogeys on the 16th and 17th holes.
Echavarria made par on the last hole to set the clubhouse lead two strokes in front of his closest competitors. Lowry closed his disappointing three-hole stretch with a par on the final hole to finish in a T2 position. Lowry has now finished in the top 11 of this event the last five years.
This is Echavarria’s first PGA Tour win in the United States—his previous two wins came in Puerto Rico and Japan. With this win, he earned exemptions into the Masters, PGA Championship and the remaining Signature Events this season. Heading into this week, Echavarria had missed the cut in four of the five events he had played in.
In his post-round press conference, Echavarria was asked about the likelihood of him winning this tournament: “To be honest, no, I didn’t think it was going to be possible with a three-shot lead that he had. But at the same time, the Bear Trap played harder today than any of the other three days. It was playing into the wind.” But the wind didn’t end up being such an obstacle for Echavarria, as he played the Bear Trap at one-under par.
Next on the PGA Tour schedule is the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. The third Signature Event of the year will feature last year’s winner Russell Henley, Rory McIlroy and Jacob Bridgeman.
