‘It kind of stings’

Evan Nachtigall was about 12-feet away from making history.

But a slippery downhill birdie putt for the win on Friday afternoon in Ontario proved to be a bit too aggressive, leaving the 25-year-old Brandon golfer with a nervy comeback attempt that ultimately fell painfully short.

The resulting bogey, on the 72nd and final hole of play at the Canadian Men’s Mid-Amateur Championship, left him one shot behind playing partner Garrett Rank, who tapped in his par to claim victory.

“It kind of stings,” Nachtigall told the Free Press shortly after finishing up at the Brantford Golf & Country Club. “At the end of the day, second place in my first time playing this event and losing to a guy who’s now won it four times, I guess I’ll have to take it.”

Rank — a full-time NHL referee from Ontario — finished at 18-under after rounds of 64-68-69-69. His three previous triumphs came in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

Nachtigall (64-67-68-72) began Friday with a two shot lead, which became a one shot deficit after 11 holes. An eagle on the 12th put him back in front. They were tied through 13 before Nachtigall grabbed the lead again on 14, only to fall behind by one on 15 with a double bogey. Rank bogeyed 16 to once again leave them tied, setting the stage for the decisive 18th.

“We traded blows coming down the stretch there and ultimately he came out on top,” said Nachtigall.

His drive on the final hole — an uphill, par-five into the wind — ended up in a fairway bunker nestled against the lip.

“I had to advance it out as far as I could. My third shot, I had 200 yards and I knew I had no choice but to hit a good one,” said Nachtigall.

“But that 18th green is quite something. I basically had a straight downhill putt with three or four feet of break. And I just touched it and it went racing by five feet. I missed the comebacker.”

His voice trailed off at that point.

“You know, I come into these things coming to win, I’m not trying to lag it down there and make a par and go to a playoff. I put a good, confident roll on it, hit a good putt and it just didn’t quite catch the break like I thought it would,” said Nachtigall.

“If I had the putt over again I would probably hit pretty similar. It was a nice confident aggressive stroke, me and (his caddy) liked our read. It’s just the way she goes.”

There’s certainly no shame at all in finishing second, considering 156 of the best amateur golfers over the age of 25 were competing in this tournament. And not just from Canada either — there were plenty of players from the United States as well.

“Got off to a hot start, a 64 there. And then the last three days I didn’t really have my best stuff. I really struggled off the tee, just missing fairways by a few yards here and there,” said Nachtigall.

“I wasn’t missing big, but I was missing big enough where I was missing fairways. And I just wasn’t able to control my ball quite the same that I would have. And then from there I just wasn’t able to hit it as close to the hole as I could have if I was in the fairway. Still had plenty of great looks, still had a ton of opportunities. Just didn’t have too many fall.”

Nachtigall was aiming to become the first Manitoban to win the national title since Todd Fanning did so in 2017.

Despite being the runner-up, he is still a Canadian champion. Nachtigall helped lead Manitoba to the Inter-Provincial Team title, which gets decided after the first two rounds. He, along with fellow Elmhurst members Jordy Lutz and David Spurr, finished with a combined score of 15-under.

“That was awesome. To come second myself is pretty sweet, but to be able to win it with two other guys who I play a ton of golf with this year at Elmie there, that was special,” said Nachtigall.

“I know the three of us are going to remember that for a long time. We’re all super pumped to have done that.”

Nachtigall and his teammates are now headed back to Winnipeg and will take in the Manitoba Open this weekend at their home where another local golfer, Braxton Kuntz, has made the cut.

Add it all up and it’s been a pretty good week for local golfers.

“I think it kind of puts us on the radar, that these guys from Manitoba, they can play,” said Nachtigall.

“That’s probably the best part of it. We’ve made some names for ourselves now and I look forward to keep competing in these events and proving myself.”

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