Proud Irishman Shane Lowry is just one round shy of capturing a ‘local’ Palm Beach Gardens victory heading into the final round of the 2026 Cognizant Classic.
Lowry lives locally in the close proximity to the host PGA National course that he calls ‘home’ and produced a superb bogey-free eight-under 63 to share the third round lead at 13-under with American Austin Smotherman who added a second straight 69.
Lowry, and chasing a third ‘individual’ Tour victory 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.
IRISH-BORN ‘LOCAL LAD’ TIED FOR LEAD ….
He’s to the core & while the @PGANatl ⛳️ is now local, @ShaneLowryGolf would dearly love to capture @the_cognizant
Read: https://t.co/LcvwYXdIrg
PGAT
✅ @TOURMISS pic.twitter.com/eXGPcVzxqR
— Fatiha (@TOURMISS) February 28, 2026
“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, losing the lead in a 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 Classic before finishing tied for fourth in 2024, then tied for 11th last year.
MEETING THE GAME’S GREATEST ….
How chuffed was @ShaneLowryGolf meeting the game’s greatest @jacknicklaus after the Irishman muscled his way to a share of the third round @the_cognizant lead @PGANatl
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PGAT
✅ @TOURMISS https://t.co/yx2TK5FY6n
— Fatiha (@TOURMISS) February 28, 2026
“There wasn’t much wind out there, so there’re 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.”
Back-to-back bogeys on the par-4 sixth and the par-3 seventh 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.
“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.”
Jimmy Stanger climbed to solo fifth at 11-under with a 65 (7 birdies, 1 bogey). Ricky Castillo’s season-low-tying 64 (6 birdies in holes 8-14 stretch) got him to T6 at 10-under. Patton Kizzire matched the low round with a 63 to climb into the mix at T9/-8.!
