Nachtigall win’s first Men’s Amateur title

Evan Nachtigall spends his days helping customers play dream rounds on famous golf courses around the globe — without ever leaving Brandon — thanks to state-of-the-art simulators.

But the 24-year-old just proved he’s got game in real life, too, by winning the 2025 Nott Autocorp Men’s Amateur at Southwood Golf & Country Club. Nachtigall pulled away from a crowded back to finish the 54-hole event on Wednesday at eight-under par, three strokes clear of his closest challengers.

“It’s surreal,” he told the Free Press, reflecting on having his name added to a trophy that’s been handed out since 1922 — one he purposely avoided eye contact with all week.

“I haven’t even taken a good look at it. I know it was there all three days but I just kept walking by it, not really glancing at it. I’ll definitely be taking a good look at it now. There’s some absolute legends on there, so it feels awesome.”

Nachtigall was one of eight golfers to shoot an opening-round 69 on Monday, then kept his foot on the gas while others faded over the final two rounds as windy conditions sent scores climbing.

“I just didn’t make any big mistakes,” he said. “I put the ball in play and did what I had to do. I capitalized on a lot of birdie looks.”

Born and raised in Winnipeg but now living in Brandon and playing out of Shilo, Nachtigall entered the final day ahead of fellow Brandonite Drew Jones by a single stroke.

He caught his good buddy with a birdie on the first hole Wednesday, then took the outright lead with another on the third. Jones tied things up with a birdie of his own on the fourth, Nachtigall regained the lead on the seventh, and Jones pulled even again on the eighth — all with birdies.

It was shaping up to be a head-to-head battle between the two friends. But after the turn, Jones ran into trouble, making bogeys on 11, 13, 15 and 16, while Nachtigall stayed steady despite a couple of late bogeys on 16 and 17.

“I played basically a flawless round of golf except for those missteps (the two bogeys),” said Nachtigall, who closed in style with a birdie on 18.

“I just kept telling myself coming down the stretch that, ‘You’ve hit these shots a thousand times, let’s just go out and keep doing that.’”

Jones (69-69-73) finished at five-under, good for a share of second with Calgary’s Josiah Tong (69-71-71). It’s the second straight year Jones ended up with a silver medal. Last year, he had a one-stroke lead with three holes to play only to falter late as Braxton Kuntz won for a record-breaking fourth straight time.

Ryan Blair of Elmhurst made a late charge, starting the day at even par and getting to six-under through 17 holes, within a shot of Nachtigall, who was one group behind. But disaster struck on the par-five 18th, where Blair made a triple-bogey eight, finishing solo fourth at three-under (70-73-70).

Right behind him was five-time Amateur champion Todd Fanning, who was trying to become the first six-time winner in Manitoba history. The 57-year-old Niakwa member finished fifth at two-under (69-75-70). Mid-amateur champion Allan McDonald of Breezy Bend was the only other player to finish under par, ending up at one-under (71-74-70).

Nachtigall is a bit of a late bloomer in golf, only getting serious about the sport after graduating high school in 2020. His teenage years were focused on football, basketball and hockey, but he caught the golf bug playing at Transcona with his grandfather.

This was his fifth appearance at the Amateur, with a previous best finish of sixth place in 2023, six shots back of Kuntz, who won his third straight title that year. Kuntz wasn’t in the 118-player field this week as he’s on the verge of turning professional after completing his collegiate career.

“I always knew that when my game was on I can hang with anyone. It’s just a matter of doing it,” said Nachtigall, who captured a Prairie Scratch tour title last year at Quarry Oaks and also won the Tamarack golf tournament at Clear Lake last August.

So what comes next?

First up is the Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship, which runs July 28-31 in Ottawa.

Winning the provincial title also means an automatic entry into his first PGA Tour Americas event, the Manitoba Open, which will be held Aug. 21-24 at Breezy Bend. It will be a chance to test himself against some of the top rising stars of professional golf on the planet.

“That’s going to be really exciting,” said Nachtigall, who had to keep trying to push the thought out of his head as he was trying to close things out on the back nine Wednesday.

“I was just trying to think about the task at hand and had to keep telling myself to focus on the next shot.”

Nachtigall has one semester left at Brandon University and co-owns EVO Golf. Could professional golf be in his future, following in Kuntz’s footsteps?

“That would be the absolute dream,” he said.

“But golf is such a hard game. There’s so many good golfers out there. When you get to that level pretty much anyone in the field could win on any given week. A lot of it is right time, right place. But if I have the opportunity, I’ll give it a shot.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg