ORLANDO, Florida — It's OK to feel sad for Shane Lowry.
He had one hand on the trophy and the other hand outstretched to hug his 4-year-old daughter when she ran onto the 18th green at PGA National to celebrate the first time seeing her father win. That was the plan, anyway. Lowry could practically picture the whole scene.
“Just to see her little ginger hair running down the 18th green would have been the most special thing in the world,” he said. “I thought I had it. I thought I was going to win.”
That was before he hit 3-iron off the 16th tee and into the water and had to scramble for a double bogey just to stay one shot ahead. Before he could hit another shot, Lowry watched Nico Echavarria make birdie on the par-3 17th to tie him. And then Lowry hit a chip 7-iron — perfect number, perfect club, imperfect swing — into the water for another double bogey.
A five-shot swing in two holes. It was cruel to watch, and especially painful to hear him talk about how badly he wanted to win for 4-year-old Ivy, no one else.
But there's no need to feel sorry for Lowry.
There will be other opportunities, perhaps more painful outcomes, no promises. Such is sport. This is what golf does to players at the highest level. The game can turn on the best of them without notice, as it did Sunday in the Cognizant Classic.
“Golf does strange things to you at times,” Lowry said, “and it certainly did it to me today.”
Lowry, of course, has plenty of company on far bigger stages.