Shane Lowry and Austin Smotherman are tied for the lead at the Cognizant Classic heading into the final round.
Lowry posted a scintillating round of 63 on Saturday while Smotherman birdied his final two holes to shoot 69.
Now the Irishman and the American will be in the final group together on Sunday at the Cognizant Classic.
Do you think Shane Lowry will win during the 2026 season?
Was the first event of 2026 a success or a failure for Shane Lowry?
Lowry was delighted with his third round 63 at the Cognizant and he’ll be very confident of posting another low score on Sunday.
He is by far the most experienced player inside the top-10 right now, and he has to make that count on Sunday.
However, Smotherman has been playing some great golf himself and he’ll be hopeful of causing an upset at PGA National.
Austin Smotherman on how he feels about Shane Lowry pairing at the Cognizant
Smother spoke to reporters after finishing his third round in Palm Beach on Saturday and he was asked how he’s feeling about playing alongside Lowry in the final group.
“Yeah, I remember playing with him in Hilton Head one time,“ Smotherman said.
“I don’t know if it was — I think it was a weekend round because it was just one day. It wasn’t Thursday-Friday by any means because he’s obviously in a little better pairing than I would have been in.
“I think it’s going to be just good energy having a name like that in the final group, especially for Cognizant and everybody here. Palm Beach native, here we are in the heart of it at PGA National. I get to put my name next to his and go battle him all day.
“That’s probably the thing right there that I need to probably step back and realize is that it’s not me versus him or anything like that. Looking at the leaderboard, it’s so jam packed, and yeah, him and I kind of got to 13, but the number of guys today that I saw on the board that was like 11, 11, 11, 11, 10, 10, 9, it’s like, this golf course, you stay patient, you make your pars, putts will go in.
“Take care of the par-5s like I’m doing, which has kind of given me some freedom on some of these other out-of-position shots, and I’m sure Shane has done the same exact thing just in his own way and had a great round today. I don’t know what he started at. Did he shoot like 64? Yeah, it was definitely out there today.
“I had my kind of mistakes and held on and felt like I had to figure some things out, and did, just to get my 2-under par. He was feeling it. Everything is even tomorrow. Go play some golf.“
Smotherman can’t get dragged into matchplay situation with Lowry
The key for Smotherman will be to focus on his own game and to not get drawn into any kind of matchplay situation with Lowry.
As the American said, the leaderboard is stacked right now, with seven players within three shots of the lead and 18 with six!
Do you think long putters should be banned?
Yes or No…
Anything could happen on the final day and the worst thing that Smotherman could do is get drawn into a matchplay situation with Lowry.
The Irishman is far too experienced to allow that to happen, and the good news is that the American checked himself when discussing exactly that in his press conference.
He has been playing incredibly well this week and he just needs to keep that up on Sunday.
Smotherman and Lowry will tee off at 1:45 PM local time for the final round of the Cognizant Classic and it should be seriously exciting viewing.
Receive exclusive golf news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
