‘We gave the crowd some fireworks’

Rory Neill wasn’t actually operating on auto pilot, even if it often appeared to be the case.

Over the course of 54 holes at St. Boniface Golf Club, Neill was able to execute his game plan to near perfection and his remarkable consistency allowed him to earn a two-stroke victory at the Golf Manitoba men’s amateur championship on Wednesday afternoon.

Neill, who plays out of Glendale, held the lead after 18 and 36 holes and he rarely wavered, shooting a three-under 69 during his final round to finish at five-under 211, holding off Drew Jones of Shilo (who had the low round of the day at 67) to secure his third consecutive runner-up finish.

“I was definitely nervous to start the day, but I tried really hard to detach from the scoreboard and just play another round of golf, like I had the first two days,” said Neill, whose lone bogey of the round came on the 18th hole. “It’s cool (to go wire-to-wire). It’s definitely not what I would have expected. I talked to some guys earlier in the week and we all agreed that it was definitely going to be a bunched-up leaderboard here. I knew that coming into (the final round) that there were probably 20 guys that could win

“I knew that two-under (his score after 36 holes) wasn’t likely going to be enough. I prepared the same way I would any other day and said, ‘Look, you’re going to have to shoot under par and if you do, you’re probably going to like where you end up.’”

Neill noted that he slept better than he thought he would on Tuesday night, given the circumstances of trying to secure his first men’s amateur title.

He made nine consecutive pars to open his round on Wednesday, then jugged a 120-yard shot from the rough on the par-4 10th hole to make an eagle that generated some momentum.

“It one-hopped into the hole. That definitely helped,” said Neill, who recently completed his sophomore season with the University of Manitoba Bisons golf team. “I don’t think I’ve had something like that happen in a few years, so it couldn’t have been a more timely time for it.

“I played the back nine really well this week, so I knew that coming into the back nine if I could get it in around even par that I could do some damage coming in.”

Just two holes after his eagle, Neill drained a long putt on the par-3 13th hole for birdie that extended his lead.

“I probably would have had about five or six feet coming back, but it hit the middle of the hole to go in,” said Neill. “Anyone who has won golf tournaments can admit that over the course of the week, it takes some good fortune. I would not be shy to say that I definitely had some good fortune this week, but that’s what it takes to win golf tournaments in a field that is full of good players.”

Kaleb Lambert of Elmhurst secured the final spot on Manitoba’s Willingdon Cup team by carding a two-under 70 — which included an eagle on the par-5 17th hole — to finish alone in third place at 214.

The 2026 Canadian men’s amateur championship will be played at Mickelson National Golf Club in Calgary from July 27-30.

Evan Nachtigall of Elmhurst, the 2025 men’s amateur champion, and Jay Doyle of Niakwa were among four players who tied for fourth place at 215.

Doyle played extremely well throughout the course of the week and rode a roller coaster of emotions during the final round.

Not only did he make eagle on the ninth and 11th holes, but he three-putted for par on 17 and made a double bogey on the final hole to slip from a tie for second to fourth spot.

Since Neill and Doyle were playing in the final group with Patrick Perron (who finished ninth at 217 after rounds of 74-70-73), it meant that an eagle was made on three consecutive holes, which brought plenty of applause from the gallery.

“We gave the crowd some fireworks there,” said Neill. “Weirdly enough, I didn’t actually think the course set up all that well for me this week. I’m a guy who kind of likes to bomb it and go hit wedges afterward, to hit it far and find it. But I drafted a really good game plan and did a really good job of sticking to that under pressure and not getting too aggressive at any given point.”

Jones’ final round also included a pair of eagles, including one from the greenside bunker on the par-4 sixth hole from roughly 20 yards.

“I tried to hit the ball first,” said Jones. “I picked it clean and it was soaring right at (the flag) and it went right into the hole. It didn’t touch the ground at all. That was pretty sweet. I had never actually witnessed that before, just a dunk.”

Jones did a great job of battling during his round, as he missed a bunch of fairways off the tee but got creative with his punch outs and leaned on his short game to post the lowest score of the event.

“The flat stick was the best it has been all week,” said Jones. “My resilience and grittiness to just make par from anywhere was just really good today and all week.

“It was not my best out there. But I’m super happy with the way I was able to just grind and put a (good) score down.”

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