Shane Lowry admits he feels robbed of his first Tour victory since his Open Championship triumph after just coming up short at the Honda Classic.
Lowry began his final round five shots behind Daniel Berger and finished one shy of Austrian Sepp Straka, who claimed his first Tour win at the Championship Course at PGA National.
Playing in the last pairing with Berger, the 34-year-old from Offaly swiftly bridged the gap between himself and the American before easing into a two-shot lead with eight holes remaining.
But Straka finished stronger than anyone, going 3-under over his last five holes on what is a tough closing stretch, and Lowry's bogey free 67 came up just short of securing a sixth Tour success.
Instead, solo second place earned him $872,000 and moves him from 50th in the world rankings to 35th and from 221st in the Fed Ex standings up to 46th.
But afterwards Lowry was gutted that he caught a bad break on the 18th tee.
Straka launched a long tee-shot down the fairway on the closing par-5 moments before a heavy rain shower drenched the Florida course, setting up a crucial birdie.
In the wet conditions, Lowry's drive on the same hole came up short and in the left rough, forcing him to lay up with his second shot and a poor approach from 114 yards left him with too much to do with the putter from 44 feet.
Straka acknowledged later that the timing of his tee shot made a massive difference.
"We were lucky we got to hit our drive before the rain, which is huge," he said.
"I hit a pretty good drive down there, and, yeah, once we got there, it was a 7-iron.
"It was a perfect number, and then just started dumping rain. We ended up switching to a 6-iron, tried to hit the same shot, and pulled it off."
For Lowry, it was a body blow of an ending.
"It's hard to take, to be honest," he said, having just missed out on becoming the third Irishman to win the tournament after Padraig Harrington and Rory McIlroy.
"Feel like I've got the tournament stolen from me today.
"That's the game unfortunately. I played the golf, good enough golf I felt to win the tournament.
"That bad weather came in just as we were hitting our tee shot on 18, which was as bad a break as I've got in a while.
"You know, he's gone 3-under the last five on this course. I played the golf perfectly to win the tournament, and that's this game sometimes and that's this level.
"He finished well. Yeah, the last hole was...that was as bad a break as I've ever got.
"You know, especially when you're standing on the tee and you see him over that left bunker, which I would've been able to do if there was no rain, because I need a drive and a 4 or 5 iron.
"Probably would've given myself a better chance with a 4.
"Look, it is what it is. It's a great week for me. I'm very happy where my game is at. It's a really nice week to take into The Players now."
Lowry had spoken to his coach Neil Manchip about how he could handle the possible scenarios that might unfold on the final day.
"You know, I was ready for anything out there," he said. "I feel like mentally I'm very good at the minute.
"And, yeah, before I knew I was leading the golf tournament. It was great. I really enjoyed it.
"Quite nerve wracking. It's a tough place to be. I felt like I handled myself well. Just got stolen away from me today."
It is now almost two and a half years since Lowry's crowning triumph in Portrush and he smiled: "It's hard to win out here. It's just hard, end of story.
"There's no point saying any different. I played the golf to win the tournament but didn't win.
"So just in the PGA Tour and the top level of world golf, the standard is very high at the minute."
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