SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Brad Nurski needed a wake-up call after the first 18 holes of the Missouri Amateur Championship final on Sunday.

Luckily, caddy Dan Crawford passed along the necessary spark to the St. Joseph golfer, who was down three holes to Matt Miller with 18 holes to go.

“You’re not old, and you’re not tired,” Crawford yelled at Nurski. “You can’t afford to be tired.”

And Nurski said that’s just the motivation he needed.

“I knew I had to find it somewhere down deep and play better,” the 31-year-old said. “My caddy told me to loosen up and have fun. I just needed to keep my head up and keep smiling, and that’s what I did.”

After the final 18 holes at Twin Oaks Country Club in Springfield, Nurski had plenty of reason to smile. He mounted an impressive comeback behind five birdies in the last eight holes to become the first St. Joseph man to win the Missouri Amateur in half a century.

Past champions of the Missouri Amateur, which rotates annually between Missouri golf courses and has been played now for 103 years, includes several notable names. In fact, the first time the event was held at Twin Oaks — in 1970 — PGA legend Tom Watson won it. Don Walsworth, who played 15 years of professional golf, took home the title when the event was played at Twin Oaks in 1985.

“It means the world,” Nurski said. “It’s the one tournament I’ve wanted to win all my life. I’ve finally done it. It’s the biggest win in my life and will probably not ever be topped.”

The win was anything but easy.

Nurski was down 4 holes with just 11 left to play on Sunday.

He started his comeback with birdies on the eighth and ninth holes. Miller bogeyed the eighth and hit for par on the ninth, losing both holes to Nurski.

“The ninth hole at that golf course was very kind to me all week,” Nurski said. “The tee box was way back. A lot of the golfers had to hit a big slice around the trees because they’re right-handed. Being left-handed, I could just hit it as high as I could. I played it very, very good all week with just one exception.”

The two golfers both hit for par on the 10th hole, and then Nurski put together another big stretch. He won the next three holes with two pars and a birdie — Miller bogeyed the 11th and 12th and hit for par on the 13th. That gave him the advantage for the first time in the afternoon round.

“My putter started working again,” Nurski said. “That’s what I knew I had to do: stay consistent and make some putts. I knew I still had a chance even when I was down and that I just had to keep plugging away.”

The match-play comeback was the second of the week for Nurski. He trailed by four with 11 holes to play in his Friday match before rallying to a victory over Andrew Luo.

“I knew that I had been in that same position Friday afternoon,” Nurski said. “I drew on that experience a little bit. I thought, ‘Hey, I’ve done this before, and I can try to do it again.’”

Nurski clinched the victory by winning two of the final three holes.

“My past performances in this golf tournament have not been that good,” said Nurski, who has played in the Missouri Amateur at least eight times. “I came down this week with a different mind set of just playing the golf course instead of playing my opponent. Try to make birdies instead of worrying about what the other guy was doing; that was my focus.”

Miller placed 25th in the two rounds of stroke play, which start the six-day tournament and set the seeding for the match play. Miller, who is from Eldon, Mo., beat 13th-seeded Kevin Kring 3-and-2 on Saturday to earn his way in against Nurski, who was seeded second going into match play.

Nurski made his way into the final pairing with five victories — two routine wins, one amazing comeback and a pair of top-notch performances Saturday.