Ritchie brews up a victory in Stella Artois Players Championship
[Saturday, November 15, 2025 18:57:33]
JC Ritchie. (Credit: Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour)
JC Ritchie. (Credit: Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour)
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.
In order to avoid the predicted adverse weather on Sunday, it was decided to play both the third and fourth rounds in a single day on Saturday which led to a marathon of 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 try and 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 die Plessis continued his impressive return from injury and finished tied fourth on 14 under par after claiming a victory in his first tournament back a few weeks ago.
SCORES
267 - JC Ritchie 65 68 65 69
269 - Christiaan Burke 66 69 67 67, Oliver Bekker 67 65 67 70
270 - Hennie du Plessis 69 67 66 68, Bryce Easton 67 68 63 72
271 - Kyle Barker 66 67 67 71, Deon Germishuys 64 66 73 68
272 - Kieron van Wyk 67 70 68 67, Estiaan Conradie 66 67 69 70, Pieter Moolman 67 65 70 70
273 - Jaco Prinsloo 68 68 69 68, Nikhil Rama 64 74 67 68, Ryan Van Velzen 68 70 67 68, Herman Loubser 66 68 71 68
274 - Luke Brown 69 67 72 66, Ethan Smith 64 72 69 69, Stuart Krog 64 70 71 69, Karabo Mokoena 62 69 71 72
275 - Stals Swart 66 70 71 68, Luis Carrera 66 70 70 69, Ockie Strydom 65 72 69 69, Jordan Burnand 64 70 69 72, Jacques Blaauw 71 68 69 67, Simon du Plooy 66 67 70 72
276 - Keanu Pestana 67 69 69 71, Ulrich van den Berg 68 70 67 71, Xander Basson 69 69 68 70, Neil Schietekat 71 64 68 73, Tomas Gana 71 68 65 72
277 - Stephen Ferreira 67 68 69 73, Lyle Rowe 67 71 73 66, Daniel van Tonder 68 70 71 68, Graham van der Merwe 68 66 69 74, Samuel Simpson 71 68 68 70, Ricky Hendler 69 70 64 74
278 - Hayden Griffiths 67 70 69 72, Ruan Korb 67 69 68 74, Matthew Spacey 65 73 71 69, Peter Karmis 67 71 71 69
279 - Quintin Wilsnach 66 69 73 71, Pierre Viallaneix 65 68 72 74, Liam Grehan 71 68 70 70
280 - JJ Senekal 67 72 73 68
281 - Luke Jerling 69 68 70 74, Michael Hollick 66 71 71 73, Louis de Jager 69 68 73 71, Keagan Thomas 67 71 71 72, Christian Kriek 72 66 72 71, Carter Rowe 68 68 73 72, CJ du Plessis 66 72 70 73, Gerhard Pepler 66 72 68 75, Benjamin Van Wyk 73 66 71 71
282 - Marcel Steyn Scholtz 69 67 69 77
283 - Keenan Davidse 69 70 69 75, Ruan Groenewald 69 70 72 72, Keegan Mclachlan 68 71 73 71
284 - David Amm 69 67 72 76, Lwazi Gqira 69 70 73 72, Jean-Paul Strydom 68 71 72 73
286 - Joe Long 67 72 73 74
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