Étienne Papineau cards 9-under 61 on 30th birthday for four-shot win at Digital Commerce Group Open

Étienne Papineau (Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec) celebrated his 30th birthday Sunday with a final-round 61 and a four-stroke victory at the Digital Commerce Group Open, his second win of the season that moves him to No. 2 on the PGA Tour Americas Points List. Also the winner of the 2023 Digital Commerce Group Open, Papineau joins Rick Todd (1991, 1997) as the only two-time winners of the event held annually in Victoria, British Columbia, since 1981.

Trailing by three at the start of the day at Uplands Golf Club, Papineau bogeyed the second hole before making birdies on seven of his next eight holes (Nos. 3-7, 9, 10). He added three more birdies coming in to finish at 25 under, four strokes better than runner-up Charlie Nikitas (Glenview, Illinois).

“Yeah, it's crazy celebrating to win on my 30th birthday to a place where I won in the past, it's incredible,” Papineau said. “And the crowd, it was awesome for them to sing me ‘Happy Birthday.’ It means a lot. Proud to be Canadian and having them celebrate with me was awesome.”

Papineau was a Korn Ferry Tour member in 2024 and 2025, but lost membership after finishing No. 121 on last year’s points list. In 13 starts on PGA Tour Americas this season, Papineau now has four top-five finishes, including his win Sunday and in July at the Osprey Valley Open, and he is in position to return to the Korn Ferry Tour next year as one of the top 10 players on the final points list.

“Having two wins under the belt this year, it proves a lot to myself,” said Papineau, who is the first two-time winner of the season. “Yeah, the struggle at the beginning of the year ... you know, sometimes it's good that it happens because you learn a lot from it and that's what I did. I was able to learn from it and bounce back and find my confidence back.”

Canadians now have seven wins on PGA Tour Americas since 2024, and a Canadian has won the Digital Commerce Group Open four of the last six years – Papineau (2026, 2023), Drew Nesbitt (2025) and Blair Bursey (2021).

Papineau’s next closest challenger was Nikitas, who finished solo second at 21 under and improved 20 spots to No. 11 on the points list. In a tie for third at 20 under was Riley Lewis (Prescott, Arizona) and Thomas Longbella (Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin), while Daniel Svärd (Stockholm, Sweden) turned in the lowest final-round score, a 10-under 60, and improved 34 spots to finish T32 at 14 under.

Kyle Cottam (Knoxville, Tennessee) started the day with a two-stroke lead after carding a third-round 58, the lowest score in PGA Tour Americas history. He fell off the pace with a front-nine 36 and finished T5 at 19 under after a closing 70.

Next week, PGA Tour Americas travels to Blackhawk Golf Club in Edmonton, Alberta, for the ATB Classic presented by Building Trades of Alberta. At the end of next week’s event, the top 60 players on the points list will qualify for the season-ending Dominican Republic Tour Championship presented by Scotiabank (Oct. 15-18).