Nachtigall top of the pack heading into Canadian Mid-Am final

Evan Nachtigall is trying not to get ahead of himself. But you’ll forgive the young Manitoba golfer for pondering the “what if” as he stands on the cusp of a career milestone.

Nachtigall, 25, sits alone on top of the Canadian Men’s Mid-Amateur championship through 54 holes. He is 17-under par and carries a two-shot lead into Friday’s final round at the Brantford Golf & Country Club in Ontario.

“It would be incredible, but there is a lot of golf left to go so I won’t be thinking too much about that until hopefully the final putt drops,” Nachtigall told reporters on scene Thursday.

The Brandon product is aiming to become the first Manitoban to win the national title since Todd Fanning did so in 2017, winning a playoff over Ontario’s Garrett Rank.

Speaking of whom, it is the very same Rank who now poses the biggest threat to Nachtigall. Rank — a three-time champion whose full-time job is as an NHL referee — is at 15-under par. Another Ontario golfer, Cam Burke, is four shots back at 13-under.

Nachtigall, who finished second in the Manitoba Manitoba Mid-Amateur behind winner Doug Penner earlier this summer, opened with a sizzling eight-under 64 on Tuesday, then followed that up with impressive rounds of 67 and 68. Thursday included an eagle, four birdies, two bogeys and 11 pars.

“I struggled off the tee most of the day, but I was still able to put together a solid score,” he said.

“I feel like I was able to stay patient even though I was not at my best out there, I made some good pars when I had to, it was pretty scrappy, I feel like I just stayed mentally strong out there and just tried to make pars if I wasn’t driving it into the fairway.”

The final trio of Nachtigall, Rank and Burke tee off Friday at 9:30 a.m. CT.

Winning the Canadian event comes with more than just bragging rights. The top golfer also gets an exemption into the 2026 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship at Sand Valley Resort in Nekoosa, Wis.. from Sept. 26-Oct. 1, along with a free pass into next summer’s Canadian Amateur and Mid-Amateur.

Regardless of how Friday’s final 18 plays out, Nachtigall is already a national champion. He helped lead Manitoba to the Inter-Provincial Team title, which gets decided after the first two rounds.

The province was represented by Nachtigall, Jordy Lutz of Winnipeg and David Spurr of Oakbank who finished with a combined score of 15-under. The trio are all members at Elmhurst, which is currently hosting the Manitoba Open.

“Coming in we were confident and knew we could do it, things just had to kind of go our way and play well, but yeah, its awesome,” said Nachtigall.

Alberta finished second, four shots back, while Quebec edged out Saskatchewan for third. This marks the first time in Manitoba’s long golf history that a team comprised of members from the same club have ever won a Canadian championship together.

“We didn’t even win Mundie Putter this year,” joked Ryan McMillan, the assistant pro at Elmhurst. “It’s just so cool. Just a lot of pride.”

The Mid-Amateur is open to players aged 25 and older who have a handicap index of 5.0 or less. The field of 156 includes several Americans and 11 Manitobans.

Five other locals made the 36-hole cut in addition to Nachtigall. Lutz (three-under, T26), Allan McDonald (even, T-37), Tyson Ehnes (two-over, T-47), Spurr (two-over, T-47) and Lyle MacKenzie (eight-over, T-73).

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