JC Ritchie secured automatic promotion to the DP World Tour on Sunday after earning a third victory of the season in the Italian Challenge Open at Golf Nazionale.
The South African started the day in a share of the lead but incredibly birdied each of his opening seven holes to move clear before running out a two-shot victor from Sweden’s Robin Petersson and Christofer Rahm who shared second.
Ritchie, who won for a second time this season just seven days ago with victory in the Open de Portugal at Royal Óbidos, climbs to the summit of the Road to Mallorca Rankings with victory in Italy.
The 31-year-old is now a seven-time winner on the HotelPlanner Tour, and he was delighted to cap a memorable year by securing promotion to the DP World Tour.
“It’s a dream come true,” he said. “It’s the best possible outcome for the season.
“I started off the season not knowing what I was going to do for the year. I planned on playing Sunshine Tour and I didn’t really have a goal for the year.
“I went out to Dubai on the HotelPlanner Tour and finished second there and thought then that I really had to keep playing. Luckily there was a lot of good work that produced those results early in the year and it’s all led up to this.
“All I had to do today was keep myself calm, which got a little tough at the end.”
Ritchie distanced himself from the chasing pack on the final day thanks to a run of seven successive birdies from the first hole, and had turned a share of the lead into a five shot advantage by the turn.
After mixing a birdie with a bogey on holes 13 and 14, Ritchie could afford to make a triple bogey at the last and still remain two clear, ending the week on 20-under-par, and he said the fast start held him in good stead for the rest of the day.
“The little mishap on the 18th took away the celebrations a bit, but this week I felt like I was pretty close to having my a-game,” he added.
“I knew the first two holes were birdie holes for the day and I felt like if I got those two, I would be on the front foot for the day and I managed to hit it close twice.
“The next five holes were some of the best holes I’ve played in terms of tee to green and execution, and then I made I don’t even know how many feet of putts. They were unbelievable putts that I haven’t made all week. That was a lot of fun.”
Englishman Steven Brown, Lars van der Vight from the Netherlands and American Brendon Kewalramani ended the week in a share of fourth on 17-under-par, with Denmark’s Jeppe Kristian Andersen one shot further back in seventh.
Ritchie is the new number one in the Road to Mallorca Rankings following his win, with Scotland’s David Law dropping one place to second. Frenchman Oihan Guillamoundeguy, Italian Filippo Celli and Scotsman Daniel Young complete the top five.
