Playing in his eighth event of the South African-based Sunshine Tour season, Bautista displayed the type of daring and brilliance that has earned him Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia wins at Willunga and Palmerston.

His 8-under 62 in the final round of the Sunbet Challenge hosted by Wild Coast Sun was the best of the week and earned him a one-stroke win at 14-under par.

Coming on the back of a tie for third last month and a top 10 earlier in the season, Bautista now moves to second on the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit, the top three at season’s end to receive status on the DP World Tour next year.

“I am ecstatic and super happy to have won this week,” said Bautista, who has played on the Sunshine Tour the past two years.

“It was a hard week but securing the title was definitely worth the wait.”

It was a second win for the year for Hend on the Legends Tour, firing to the front with a course record 63 in Round 2 on his way to winning the European Legends Cup hosted by Jose-Maria Olazabal.

Cementing his spot at the top of the Order of Merit, the Queenslander’s final round of 67 and 16-under total was good enough for a third Legends Tour title and a commanding lead in the 2025 Order of Merit.

“It feels great to win – every win is a great thing,” said Hend, who claimed victory at the Barbados Legends, hosted by Ian Woosnam, earlier in the year.

“At the start of the day I had in my mind that if I went out and shot 4-under then it would be very hard for the guys behind to catch me. I felt I was playing pretty boring golf out there, not going for many pins, just trying to make lots of pars. Credit to Alan, my caddie – we had a game plan out there and we stuck to it.

“It was nice to birdie 15, 16 and 17 to put a bit of space between (Adilson Da Silva) and myself. It was a really good stretch there.

“I said to Alan that I’ve never been able to walk down 18 with a four-shot lead, so that was nice to do.”

It took a 35-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole from Dane Thomas Bjorn to deny Cameron Percy a first PGA TOUR Champions win and a fifth by Aussies in 2025.

Percy birdied three of his final four holes for a 7-under 64 to be the first in the clubhouse at 12-under par at the Stifel Charity Classic in Missouri.

Bjorn made three straight pars in regulation to match Percy’s 12-under total and then rolled in his birdie try from range, Percy unable to match it from a slightly closer distance.

It is the second playoff defeat endured by Percy this year having also lost to Miguel Angel Jimenez at the Principal Charity Classic.

“I’m starting to know the courses a bit better so I sort of know where I’m going,” Percy reflected.

“I’m putting really nicely from short range, I’m not missing many short putts so that’s really helping.

“One shot, isn’t that crazy? That’s the way it goes. Yesterday, I was standing on a sprinkler on 17 by just that much. I didn’t take a drop and my foot slipped and I shanked it and I made bogey.”

Photos: Aitor Alcalde/Getty Images (Hend); Courtesy Sunshine Tour (Bautista)

Results

DP World Tour
Amgen Irish Open
The K Club, Straffan, Co. Kildare, Ireland
1          Rory McIlroy                71-66-68-66—271       €873,463.74
T29      Daniel Hillier (NZ)         71-66-71-76—284       €41,874.88
T37      Elvis Smylie                  73-69-70-73—285       €33,397.14
T62      Kazuma Kobori (NZ)     75-69-72-75—291       €13,101.96
MC       David Micheluzzi          73-73—146
MC       Jason Scrivener            74-73—147

Ladies European Tour
Aramco Houston Championship
Golfcrest Country Club, Houston, Texas
1          Nuria Iturrioz               68-67-68—203 $US193,129.65
T36      Kelsey Bennett             72-70-71—213 $9,398.98
T36      Amelia Garvey (NZ)      71-71-71—213 $9,398.98
T43      Maddison Hinson-Tolchard      71-72-71—214 $6,971.06
MC       Sarah Kemp                 72-74—146
MC       Momoka Kobori (NZ)   73-75—148

PGA TOUR Champions
Stifel Charity Classic
Norwood Hills Country Club, St Louis, Missouri
1          Thomas Bjørn               65-69-67—201 $US315,000
Won on the first hole of sudden-death playoff
2          Cameron Percy             67-70-64—201 $184,800
10        Mark Hensby               68-69-70—207 $54,600
T11      Richard Green              71-70-67—208 $42,000
T24      Greg Chalmers             68-72-70—210 $19,635
T41      Rod Pampling              71-68-74—213 $8,610
T54      Brendan Jones             71-68-76—215 $4,410
T62      Michael Wright            74-67-76—217 $2,835
T68      David Bransdon           70-79-69—218 $2,037
T68      Stuart Appleby             71-70-77—218 $2,037
T70      Steve Allan                   69-71-79—219 $1,722
77        John Senden                82-78-72—232 $1,134

HotelPlanner Tour
GAC Rosa Challenge Tour
Rosa Golf Club, Konopiska, Poland
1          Hugo Townsend          69-63-64-69—265       €48,000
T28      Sam Jones (NZ)            68-65-74-70—277       €2,460
MC       Tom Power Horan        70-77—147
MC       Hayden Hopewell        78-71—149

Japan Golf Tour
Lopia Fujisankei Classic
Fujizakura Country Club, Yamanashi
1          Yasumasa Nagano       65-67-68—200 ¥16.5m
T48      Michael Hendry (NZ)    70-70-75—215 ¥226,050

LET Access Series
Rose Ladies Open
Hanbury Manor Marriot Hotel & Country Club, England
1          Emma Falcher               65-71-69—205 £10,400
T18      Kristalle Blum               71-72-72—215 £969.80
T24      Abbie Teasdale             75-71-70—216 £852.80
T37      Belinda Ji                      73-73-73—219 £496.17
MC       Whitney Hillier             74-73—147
MC       Justice Bosio                75-74—149    

Legends Tour
European Legends Cup
Real Nuevo Club Golf, Basozabal, Spain
1          Scott Hend                   70-63-67—200
T15      Mark Brown (NZ)          74-67-70—211
T24      Stephen Leaney            70-69-74—213
T42      Michael Long (NZ)        74-76-69—219

Korean PGA Tour
KPGA Founders Cup
Golf Zone County Yeongam 45
1          Doyeob Mun               68-67-63-64—262
T25      Junseok Lee                  66-70-69-69—274
T30      Changgi Lee (NZ)         71-66-72-66—275
MC       Sungjin Yeo (NZ)          76-70—146

Sunshine Tour
SunBet Challenge – Wild Coast Sun
Wild Coast Sun Country Club
1          Austin Bautista             69-65-62—196