Shane Lowry entered the Cognizant Classic as one of the clear contenders for the victory, but his opening round has put him on the back foot.
An opening round of 70 means he is one under par for the tournament. But PGA National is playing easy, and the leader, Austin Smotherman, is nine under. Lowry has a lot of work to do.
The hole in Lowry’s game during round one is clear: his putting. The Irishman lost 2.29 strokes to the field on the greens during Thursday’s play, which was the 12th worst of any player. He remains in contention only because of his elite iron play, which saw him make over four strokes back on approach.
This issue could be put down to just a bad day at the office. But it also might be a sign that he has made a massive mistake, and will pay for it not only this week, but over the next two weeks on the PGA Tour.
Shane Lowry has made a mistake by playing five PGA Tour events in a row
The Cognizant Classic field is weak this year for good reason. The event is placed between four important events on the PGA Tour schedule: The Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the Genesis Invitational, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and finally the prestigious Players Championship.
Most of the tour’s elite players, including Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler, are sitting this week out in order to rest and recover before The Players. But not Lowry. He’s playing his local event, the Cognizant Classic, as a part of a gruelling five-week stretch.
So Lowry’s putting performance at PGA National is no coincidence. Instead, it’s a worrying sign for the events to come. Research shows that when a player is fatigued, the first part of their game to suffer is their putting.
A study published in PLOS ONE in February 2025 was led by Xiaoyang Pan and colleagues from multiple universities in Malaysia and China and aimed to determine the effects of fatigue on golfers.
It concluded that the mental fatigue from playing too much golf puts particular strain on putting.
It’s a skill that requires visual processing, motor coordination, strategic decision-making, and emotional control. When fatigue sets in, the brain’s ability to manage all of these systems declines, leading to poor putting.
Even if a player doesn’t feel tired, the fatigue will first show up in their putting, so no matter how Lowry might feel, the early signs are that he’s taken on too much by playing five straight weeks. This may well cost him a chance at winning The Players.
What Shane Lowry said about playing five PGA Tour events in a row
If he’s fatigued, Lowry certainly doesn’t know it yet. He was asked about his decision to play five weeks in a row prior to the Cognizant Classic, and said it wouldn’t be possible without this being a home event for him.
The 2019 Open Championship winner explained, “Well, I think if it was five weeks in a row and there was no home weeks in there, I wouldn’t play five weeks in a row. I think the fact I’m staying at home this week makes it easier.
“I get to drive to Bay Hill next week, so there’s no flights. I get to see my family. They get to come to Bay Hill and The Players. There’s a lot in there that makes the five weeks easier than sort of if you’re five weeks away from home.
“Then I feel like I’ve been out on Tour a long time now, and I play a lot of tournaments where I don’t particularly like the golf course or I don’t play well around there. I need to take advantage of the courses that I play well on and that I like playing. There’s certain times you just have to do it.
“I think the five weeks, it’s all about managing my time and trying to rest and recover and just stay fresh as much as I can because obviously the fifth week is The Players, which is obviously one of our bigger tournaments.
“But there’s a lot in there that is the reason I’m playing the five weeks.”
He might have been dead set on this schedule before the tournament, but if this putting performance continues, perhaps he’ll consider sitting out next week so he can rest and recover for The Players at TPC Sawgrass.
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