Braxton Kuntz makes Manitoba golf history with 4th straight amateur crown

Winnipeg’s Braxton Kuntz made provincial golf history by capturing his fourth straight Manitoba Men’s Amateur Championship.

Kuntz, of the Breezy Bend Country Club in Headingley, won the three-round event by just three strokes on Wednesday at the Rossmere Country Club.

Kuntz entered the final round trailing by two strokes and it was a showdown between Kuntz and Drew Jones of the Shilo Country Club for all 18 holes.

Jones led by as many as three strokes in the final round, and had a one-shot lead after 16 holes. But Jones took a triple-bogey eight on the 17th hole, while Kuntz made par for a three-shot swing to give Kuntz the lead for good.

The 20-year-old Kuntz parred the 18th hole with a tap-in to shoot an even par 70 to finish at four-under to win again after a back-and-forth third round.

“It was crazy,” Kuntz told reporters after the final round. “I’ve never experienced anything like that. It was up and down. I was leading. He was leading. I was leading. He’d make three birdies. I’d make a couple. It was crazy.”

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Kuntz is the first golfer in the tournament’s more than 100-year history to win four amateur titles in a row. Todd Fanning won three straight from 1990-1992 and five-time winner R. J. Reith pulled off a three-peat from 1935-1937.

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“It’s incredible,” Kuntz said. “I haven’t really even thought about it, even until now, but to be able to come out and play well enough to win every year is something I’m really proud of. Even though I might not have had my best stuff each time, I’ve really grinded hard, and stayed in it, and been able to come out on top, which I’m, yeah, very proud to accomplish.”

Jones was the only other golfer in the original 114-player field to finish under par as a 75 left him at minus-one. Cameron McIntyre of the Rossmere Country Club (72), and Ryan Blair of the Elmhurst Golf & Country Club (70) tied for third place at plus-one.

It was Kuntz’s last shot at a Manitoba amateur title as he plans on turning pro next year after his senior season at Ball State University in Indiana.

Kuntz qualifies for the PGA Tour Americas Manitoba Open and the 119th Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship next month in Saskatoon. He missed the cut at nationals a year ago.

Kuntz, Jones, and Blair will make up Team Manitoba at the Canadian amateurs starting on August 5.