A beloved Minnesota golf pro was struck and killed by a car under chillingly bizarre circumstances — he was lying in the middle of the road when it happened, and no one knows why.
Nathan Westergaard, 38, an assistant golf professional at the Rochester Golf and Country Club, was hit early Sunday morning on Salem Road in southwest Rochester. Police say the driver remained at the scene and that the crash appears to be an accident. No charges have been filed — but major questions remain.
Why was Nate lying in the road at 5 a.m.? Why was he so far from home? And where is his phone?
These are just some of the haunting questions his devastated family is now facing. A GoFundMe page created to cover funeral expenses and other costs shares their heartbreak and confusion: “Why was Nate found alone, so far from home? Why wasn’t his phone found?”
Westergaard wasn’t scheduled to work that day, according to Martin Keefe, First Assistant Golf Pro at the country club. “So it wasn’t like we missed him that morning or were worried about him or anything like that,” Keefe told KTTC.
The fundraiser describes Westergaard as a cherished son, brother, and friend. “Nathan Michael Westergaard — second-born, cherished, and deeply loved — was found unresponsive on Salem Road at 5 a.m. Paramedics did everything they could, but Nathan could not be revived,” the post reads. “From that moment, the Westergaard family’s world shattered.”
Now the community is reeling from the sudden loss of a man remembered not just for his golf skills, but for his heart, humor, and intellect.
“How do we move forward without our son, our little brother, our Irish twin, our uncle, our grandson, our cousin, our friend, our handyman, our wordsmith, our chess master, our Golf Pro… our NATE?” the family wrote.
The Southern Minnesota Regional Medical Examiner’s Office is working to determine the official cause of death.
Until then, one question echoes louder than the rest: What really happened to Nate Westergaard that night?
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