JC Ritchie joined an exclusive club when he triumphed for a third time on the 2025 Road to Mallorca in the Italian Challenge Open.
The South African capped a phenomenal ten-week stretch by winning for the third time in just five starts to hit the summit of the Road to Mallorca Rankings and, with his third win, secure automatic promotion to the DP World Tour.
Ritchie becomes only the 15th person to achieve the feat and also becomes the first South African to do so.
The first of those triumphs came in the German Challenge powered by VcG where he ran out an eight-shot victor. After jumping into the lead with a second round 66, Ritchie would climb five clear after a seven under 65 on day three before going low again on Sunday with a second 66 of the week to cruise home.
After leading from the front in Germany, Ritchie produced a late birdie blitz to win the Open de Portugal at Royal Óbidos. Trailing by one shot going into the final round, the 31-year-old produced a birdie-birdie-birdie finish to come from two back to win by one.
It took Ritchie just seven days to return to the winner’s circle following his victory in Portugal, doing so with an emphatic display in Italy. Ritchie was tied for the lead heading into the final round but incredibly birdied his opening seven holes on Sunday to move clear of the field before eventually winning by two shots.
The South African now sits top of the Road to Mallorca Rankings with three events of the season remaining.
Here are three other players that have been three-time winners on the HotelPlanner Tour…
Kristoffer Broberg
Kristoffer Broberg’s automatic promotion to the DP World Tour in 2012 was sealed in historic fashion as the Swede secured three titles within a single month and after just five starts of his debut HotelPlanner Tour season.
Broberg’s remarkable run began at the start of August 2012 with back-to-back wins. A dominant six-stroke victory at the Finnish Challenge was followed by a second just seven days later at the Norwegian Challenge.
Despite falling just short at the next event with a third-place finish at the Ecco Tour Championship, Broberg bounced back the following week to win his third title at the Rolex Trophy, just 21 days after his first win.
The 37-year-old remains the fastest player in Challenge Tour history to achieve three victories and – following another win later that year at the Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Challenge – he is also the most recent player to lift four titles in a single season.
Benjamin Hébert
Benjamin Hébert is the only player to have won three events in multiple seasons, achieving this feat in both 2011 and 2014.
In 2011, Hébert's success began with consecutive victories in July at the Credit Suisse Challenge and English Challenge. He then secured his promotion with a one-stroke win at the Rolex Trophy the following month.
The Frenchman returned to the winner’s circle in 2014 at the Norwegian Challenge and Open Blue Green Côtes d'Armor Bretagne before a dominant performance at the Dubai Festival City Challenge Tour Grand Final earned him promotion once more.
John Parry
Prior to Ritchie winning three times in a single season, John Parry was the last player to do so, as he earned an automatic return to Golf’s Global Tour just last year.
The Englishman narrowly missed out on retaining his DP World Tour playing privileges in 2023 but bounced back in style. The first of his three victories came in India, with a one-stroke triumph in the Delhi Challenge, before he returned to the winner’s circle three months later at the Blot Open de Bretagne in France.
Parry sealed promotion with a third win three months later, in September 2024, thanks to rounds of 66-67-65-68 in the Italian Golf Challenge at Argentario Golf Club.
Fast forward three more months and Parry was a winner on the DP World Tour, after the 38-year-old fired an eight under par 64 on the final day of the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open to win by two. Parry has since gone on to record five other top tens and sits eighth on the 2025 Race to Dubai.
