JC Ritchie returns to the course this week at the Dormy Open in what will be his first start on the Road to Mallorca since he won the German Challenge supported by VcG.
The South African cruised to an eight shot victory at Wittelsbacher Golfclub in July to seal a fifth HotelPlanner Tour title and boost his chances of earning promotion back to the DP World Tour after he lost playing privileges in 2023.
Ahead of Thursday’s first round at Upsala GolfKlubb, we caught up with the 31-year-old to find about his time away from the course, the current state of his game and what to expect at this week.
“I enjoyed a nice four weeks at home and spent some time on the game reserve and managed to spend some good quality time with my wife, but it’s nice to be back out here until the end of the season.
“My swing is feeling good. It’s been on the couch for four weeks but there’s enough good there to jump into what I remember. I’m mostly just trying to work the ball left to right, everything in my golf swing works more efficiently when I’m moving it that way.
“Hitting draws for me isn’t a problem, so if I consistently work on hitting fades, once I get on the course I can kind of do what I want. It's been two years of hard work to get everything to where it is today.
“The last part of my puzzle, after doing a lot of hard work on my golf swing, was starting to get the body working a little bit better. This year I was able to shed some weight and find something that was sustainable and, luckily, I managed to lose 20 kilos, and it’s slowly settled into my golf swing and worked for the better.
“You buy two or three things, it’s meat and eggs, and that’s what you grind with all week. It can be boring, but nothing tastes as good as healthy feels!
“I do think a lot of the pros out here think that they’re the only ones struggling. A lot of us think we are the only ones grinding and the only ones it’s happening to but the longer you’re out here, the more you realise that 99 percent of the guys are feeling the exact same way you’re feeling and that it’s one percent of the guys who hit form and play well that you compare yourself to; that's one of the tough things to get your head around.
“I’m also looking forward to this week too. It will depend on the weather, but I think it’s a good little golf course. There are couple of good scoring holes but also some sneaky ones that can bite you. It’s a good balanced golf course with a little bit more demand on your second shot than most weeks.
"The rough isn't up so that should lead to good scoring but there’s enough trouble around. The wedge play will need to be good to set up the birdies and the tee shots will need to be accurate to get the ball in play.”
