Nate McCoy wins Lake Creek Amateur by one stroke at BVU Lake Creek

Nate McCoy poured in a 4-foot birdie putt on the final hole at BVU Lake Creek to edge Andrew Johannsen by one stroke and claim the 2026 Lake Creek Amateur title. The Ankeny golfer closed with matching rounds of 66-66 to finish at 12-under-par in the Iowa Golf Association’s additional points event, which also feeds the Iowa Amateur of the Year sweepstakes.

The finish capped a strong holiday weekend field at the Storm Lake course, where 90 golfers traveled in from across Iowa, Nebraska and Australia. Players came from Keokuk, Muscatine, Omaha, Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, giving Buena Vista County a concentrated dose of outside visitors during Memorial Day weekend at one of the area’s signature golf venues.

McCoy, 35, said the victory meant a lot because he had finished runner-up at Lake Creek multiple times and had caddied there for his father, four-time Lake Creek Amateur champion Mike McCoy, going back to about 2005. McCoy also works for the Iowa Golf Association as director of handicapping and course rating, adding another layer to a win that came on a course he knows from both family ties and professional work.

Lake Creek again proved demanding. More than two inches of rain fell in the week before play, leaving the course playing longer, and southerly gusts reached up to 25 miles per hour on Sunday. Those conditions added pressure on the closing hole, where Johannsen, a Johnston High School state champion, pushed McCoy all the way to the finish before McCoy dropped the deciding birdie.

The event also crowned champions in several divisions. Henry Sobaski of Fairfax won the Junior Division, Tom Schill of Gowrie took the Super Seniors title, Bill Matzdorff of Cumming won the Seniors event, and Alta’s Sally Krause captured the inaugural BVU Lake Creek Women’s Amateur with rounds of 79-75.

The field included four past Lake Creek Amateur champions, Jake Weissenburger, Aaron Clausen, J.D. Anderson and Ron Peterson, underscoring the tournament’s long place in Iowa golf. The Lake Creek Amateur has been part of the sport’s history since the 1970s, was added as a Player of the Year point event in 1975, and was reinstated in 2022 after a seven-year hiatus.

For Buena Vista University and Storm Lake, the tournament again put BVU Lake Creek in front of players and families from well beyond the county line. The course was named the Iowa Golf Association’s 18-Hole Golf Course of the Year in November 2021, and this weekend’s field reinforced its role as both a competitive test and a draw for visiting golfers who help carry the event’s value beyond the scorecard.