Bautista has had to wait a little longer to get his chance to defend his maiden PGA Tour of Australasia win, after the NT PGA for 2021 was played in early 2022 to close the 2021 season.

Despite being in unfamiliar territory, and the extra wait where results failed to reach close to the same levels, the former top Australian amateur is hoping some good memories of the last time he defended any title can help this week at Palmerston Golf and Country Club.

“I actually defended an amateur event one time, the Federal Amateur in Canberra,” Bautista recalled.

“The first time I won it, I won it by seven, so similar to this. And the next time I went back, I won it again. So hopefully I can do that again this year.”

Those positive memories will be aided by the familiarity of the par 71 layout, where he opened with a course record 61 in the first round on his way to victory.

“When I got to the first tee yesterday and had a practice round, there was a specific moment in the final round last year,” Bautista added.

“Every time I start my round, I start with 30 deep breaths, and there is a picture of me last year kneeling down and just kind of taking in what I was trying to do.

“I had a five-shot lead, I was trying to close out my first Tour event and I just remembered that very specific moment of all of the thoughts and feels I had and what that meant to me.”

That success last year didn’t spur on the Bonnie Doon member as much as he would have liked, with Bautista needing to deal with things outside of golf in the immediate aftermath of claiming the most unique trophy in world golf.

His improved perspective on the game after walking away a number of years ago following his strong amateur career to volunteer with humanitarian aid organisations in places such as Papua New Guinea, China, Japan, Thailand and war-torn Israel no doubt helping.

“I went through some things personally literally the week after that,” he said of his NT PGA win in May, 2022.

“Then I had to handle some things off the golf course, was able to do that. But the last month or so, I have a couple of top-10s over in Europe on the Clutch Pro Tour. Coming into it feeling pretty confident about my game.

“Golf isn’t the end all. You don’t win a golf tournament or miss a cut and the world ends. Sometimes it feels like that – or for me it did feel like that before I took the break.

“After I did that volunteer work, I had a lot more perspective on my overall goals in life and how I want to help people, how I want to contribute to bettering this world.”

Confidence has never been an issue for Bautista, who has repeatedly made it known that he believes he can reach the absolute heights of the professional game. The 26-year-old once again reaffirming his desire to contest majors and rise to the top of the Official Golf World Ranking.

“I know that if you yourself don’t believe it, then what’s the point really,” he said.

“I’ve never been one to shy away from saying how good I am at this game and wanting to be confident in my own abilities.

“Why not say I’m going to be the best? I want to win majors, because at the end of the day if I said I want to win majors and I didn’t, who cares? I’m just going to work as hard as I can and do the best I can and try and win as many tournaments as I can.”

The first step on that road will be this week around 20 minutes’ drive from Darwin, Bautista going out at 8.25am on Thursday with Jarryd Felton and 2020 NT PGA Champion Aaron Pike for company.

Pike and Bautista aren’t the only previous winners of the crocodile-head trophy in the field in this, the second event of the 2023/2024 PGA Tour of Australasia season.

The 2019 champion, Brett Rankin, is back in the Top End, while recent PNG Open winner and Order of Merit leader Lachlan Barker will tee it up as well.

Victoria’s Ben Campbell and New South Welshman James Conran get things started Thursday morning at 7.30am off the first tee.

Round 1 draw

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