Shane Lowry missed out on becoming the third Irishman to win the Honda Classic as he lost out to Austrian Sepp Straka in dramatic fashion.
The Offaly man trailed overnight leader Daniel Berger by five going into the final round but a disastrous start for the American found Lowry in the lead.
The American hit a double bogey on the Par five third hole and had consecutives bogeys on holes five and six.
All the while, 2019 Open Champion Lowry stormed to the lead with a couple of birdies on holes one and four.
From there on it, the Offaly man had to hold his nerve and as he navigated his way around bogey free and picked up his third birdie of the day one the 11th hole as he kept a one shot lead from Berger.
But Austrian golfer Sepp Straka finished with birdies on 14 and 16 to be in a tie for lead going down the 18th hole and as the heavens opened and rain poured down was inches short from an eagle that would have won him the competition.
Lowry would hit his tee shot astray on the 18th but narrowly escaped the hazard and was forced to lay up, needing a closing a birdie.
And the world number 50 had no other option but to lay up on the closing Par five as he required and up and down birdie to force a playoff with Straka as Daniel Berger put his approach shot into the water.
With a wedge shot into the final hole, Lowry will wish he could replay his approach shot into 18 as he dragged his shot left leaving a lengthy putt to force a playoff.
But the 34-year-old could not pull off a blockbuster finish as he failed to sink his 30 foot putt to force a play off and fell agonisingly short of his first win since his 2019 Open Championship.
For Lowry, he still scoops a cool €774,000 for his efforts and a welcome boost in the world rankings as he came up just shy.
He fails to join Padraig Harrington and Rory McIlroy as Irish winners of the event.
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