JC Ritchie continued his rich vein of form by winning the Stella Artois Players Championship on the Sunshine Tour by two shots on 17 under par, after a marathon day at Randpark Golf Club on Saturday.
To avoid the predicted adverse weather on Sunday, it was decided to play the third and fourth rounds in a single day on Saturday, which led to a marathon 36 holes for the Sunshine Tour professionals.
Ritchie finished the third round tied for the lead with Bryce Easton on 15 under par following his round of 65 and Easton’s incredible 63.
And then Ritchie added a final round of 69 to claim victory in what has been an incredible season for him. He won three times on the HotelPlanner Tour this season on his way to taking the overall Road to Mallorca rankings.
But this win was especially sweet, as it was his first on home fairways since 2022.
“It’s been a while, especially back home. I’ve been winning elsewhere, so it’s really good to be taking a trophy home again,” he said.
“It was really tough because 36 holes for us is unlikely, as we don’t normally do that. I had to do a lot of mental preparation yesterday — plenty of food and fluids and just trying to stay calm with the rain and bad weather. The second 18 was really brutal — it was tougher than what most people think.”
Christiaan Burke (67) and Oliver Bekker (70) shared second place on 15 under par.
Hennie du Plessis continued his impressive return from injury and finished tied for fourth on 14 under par after claiming a victory in his first tournament back a few weeks ago.
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