Two adventurous plays at the 18th hole helped JC Ritchie down Rhys Enoch to win the Zanaco Masters at Lusaka Golf Club.
Ritchie fought his way into a play-off with an incredible eagle on the last hole of regulation play on Sunday, before an unlikely birdie on the first play-off hole to take a thrilling victory.
Enoch led in the clubhouse of Wales as he watched Ritchie make eagle on the 72nd hole before watching the eventual winner take a trip into the hospitality marquee at the par-five 18th.
Ritchie sunk a nine-footer for birdie to win his fourth Sunshine Tour title after a roller-coaster of a final round during which Enoch appeared to have the upper hand.
‘I backed off the approach to 18 in regulation play,’ said Ritchie. ‘I had 174 to the flag and I was straight in between an eight and a nine. I asked my caddie, “Am I trying to make birdie or am I trying to win the tournament?” We decided that if I jumped on a nine-iron, I could get it there. We could cover the bunker and I absolutely flushed it straight at the pin. It was all or nothing at that point.
‘The play-off was tricky. I didn’t think I had a chance after Rhys hit his drive miles up the fairway – it was probably 70 yards by me. I had an extra 40 metres further than I had in regulation play. After putting it in the tent, I just tried to give myself a chance because I’m putting really well. I feel for Rhys three-putting the last, because that’s not the way you want to win it, but that’s the way it goes.’
Rookie Garrick Higgo capped a fine tournament with a closing four-under 69 to share third with England’s Chris Cannon, who closed with a three-under 70.
For Ritchie, if you include the Team Championships that he won with Jaco Strydom, this was the fourth victory in nine months, and his second within the space of the last month – he took the Sun Carnival City Challenge in August, the Limpopo Championship at the beginning of March and now this one in Zambia for his second title outside South Africa after his maiden victory in Zimbabwe in 2017.
Final leaderboard:
274 – JC Ritchie 70 68 66 70
274 – Rhys Enoch 68 65 75 66
276 – Garrick Higgo 71 69 67 69, Chris Cannon 70 71 65 70
277 – Luke Jerling 68 71 68 70
278 – Daniel van Tonder 72 69 67 70
279 – Pieter Moolman 71 70 72 66
280 – Ryan Cairns 69 74 68 69, Adilson Da Silva 71 69 70 70, Merrick Bremner 73 68 68 71, Michael Palmer 71 72 65 72
281 – Ruan de Smidt 72 70 70 69, Jaco Prinsloo 65 74 71 71, Thriston Lawrence 72 67 71 71, Ross McGowan 70 68 68 75
282 – Trevor Fisher Jnr 71 72 71 68, JJ Senekal 69 70 71 72, Jaco Ahlers 68 66 72 76
283 – Rhys West 70 69 72 72
284 – Vaughn Groenewald 72 74 68 70, Sean Bradley 70 72 69 73, Tristen Strydom 69 70 70 75
285 – Jbe’ Kruger 73 70 72 70, Luke Joy 74 72 69 70, Rourke van der Spuy 67 70 77 71, Anthony Michael 72 69 71 73
286 – Jean Hugo 72 70 71 73, Keith Horne 69 73 70 74
287 – Makhetha Mazibuko 74 70 73 70, Scott Campbell 73 70 73 71, Ruan Huysamen 73 73 70 71, Deon Germishuys 71 70 73 73, Kyle McClatchie 66 77 71 73
288 – Jake Roos 73 73 73 69, Andre Nel 73 71 70 74, Peetie van der Merwe 72 69 72 75, Lyle Rowe 70 74 68 76
289 – MJ Viljoen 71 74 72 72, Ruan Conradie 71 74 71 73, Hennie Otto 73 70 71 75
290 – Andrew van der Knaap 71 72 75 72, Titch Moore 70 72 73 75, Louis Albertse 70 74 70 76, Madalitso Muthiya 71 71 71 77
291 – Roberto Lupini 72 70 77 72, Philip Geerts 73 73 72 73, Steve Surry 70 74 73 74, Chris Swanepoel 67 72 77 75, Riekus Nortje 74 71 70 76
292 – Tyrone Ryan 73 71 75 73, Jonathan Agren 71 75 73 73
293 – Jacques Blaauw 74 72 76 71, Martin Rohwer 75 70 71 77
294 – Fredrik From 73 70 78 73, Bennie van der Merwe 74 71 75 74, Duane Keun 74 70 73 77, Darin de Smidt 72 73 72 77
297 – Michael Hollick 73 73 77 74, Jason Diab 73 72 77 75
298 – Sydney Wemba 71 73 81 73, Toto Thimba 70 76 78 74
299 – Herman Loubser 71 73 77 78
301 – Mwalikwa Sondashi 70 75 78 78
302 – Matt Bright 73 72 79 78
305 – Juran Dreyer 72 74 81 78
