Darren Ritchie shot 2-over 290 to win the 59th Canadian Seniors Men’s Championship on Friday at Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu Golf Club in La Malbaie, Canada.
The 57-year-old from Saint John, New Brunswick, led for most of the tournament and earned a five-stroke victory ahead of Joe Miszk and Luc Guilbault.
“I hit the driver so good that I could stand there and just know that it’s going up the middle of the fairway,” said Ritchie (above). “Whenever I had to make a 3-footer for par, I was fortunate. I made a lot of them this week and a lot of the other guys struggled with it.
“My golf game is good right now and I just can’t wait to play again.”
With the win, Ritchie received an exemption into the 2022 U.S. Senior Amateur.
Ritchie is best known for winning the Canadian Amateur in 1992, beating Mike Weir on his way to the title. He was the first Maritimer to win that championship but has played less golf in recent years.
“I took a lot of years off to be with my family and to take care of them,” Ritchie said. “To get back to playing and to come up here and succeed the way that I did, it’s an unbelievable feeling.”
RESULTS
The team of Rachel Heck (Stanford), Rose Zhang (Stanford), Sam Bennett (Texas A&M) and James Piot (Michigan State) will represent the American side during The Spirit, Nov. 4-6, at Whispering Pines Golf Club in Trinity, Texas.
The Spirit will have 80 competitors from 20 countries. It is a 54-hole event with five categories of play: international team, men’s team and women’s team, as well as men’s and women’s individual stroke-play competitions. Gold, silver and bronze commemorative medals are awarded to the top three in each competition.
Stacy Lewis, the 13-time LPGA Tour winner, is returning as the captain for the U.S. team.
“The Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship is such a special event,” Lewis said. “I’m thrilled to return to Whispering Pines and to work with these talented young players. We have some of the best amateur players in the world on Team USA, and I know they will represent our country well. I look forward to another incredible week of competition.”
Jennifer Peng of San Diego, California, earned medalist honors in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur on Sunday at Berkeley Hall Club in Bluffton, South Carolina.
The former Yale University player shot a 2-under 70 in the opening round and then followed with 6-under 66 to run away with the top seed heading into match play.
In the men’s U.S. Mid-Amateur at Sankaty Head Golf Club in Siasconset, Massachusetts, lengthy fog delays pushed stroke play into today. Yaroslav Merkulov of Rochester, New York, had finished his 36 holes at 9-under 131 and was leading as play concluded on Sunday.
Merkulov, a former Duke University player, reached the quarterfinals of the 2019 U.S. Mid-Amateur at Colorado Golf Club.
WOMEN’S MID-AM RESULTS | MEN’S MID-AM RESULTS
Staff and Wire Reports