Fresh from proposing to his partner Chiara just two weeks ago and with two wins on US soil already to his name in 2021, Bautista was issued an invitation to tee it up at Diamond Country Club and took full advantage.

Bouncing back from an opening round of 74 to shoot 67 in Round 2 to make the cut, Bautista birdied the 15th and 16th holes in a final round of 3-under 69 to finish tied for seventh in just his second start on Europe’s main tour.

As a result, the Bonnie Doon Golf Club member has played his way into the field for this week’s Gran Canaria Lopesan Open in Spain and risen to a career high of 841st in the world rankings, a rise of 1,066 spots on the week prior.

It was a positive return to Europe for Gold Coast-based Deyen Lawson who matched Bautista’s round of 69 in the final round to finish tied for 33rd with Queenslander Maverick Antcliff the third and final Aussie to make the cut, ending the week tied for 53rd.

The best round of his flourishing PGA TOUR career had Cameron Smith well placed after Round 1 of the RBC Heritage tournament at Harbour Town Golf Links but the 2020 Masters runner-up had to settle for a tie for ninth in South Carolina.

Smith’s 9-under 62 on day one placed him at the top of the leaderboard through 18 holes but heading into the final round on Sunday he was sitting just inside the top 30.

Top-10 at The Masters a week earlier, Smith rediscovered some of that Round 1 form to post the second-best round of the final day – a bogey-free 5-under 66 – to rise 18 places and squeeze inside the top 10.

It was another very solid week also for Cameron Davis whose tie for 25th saw him rise five places in the FedEx Cup points race to be 63rd.

A second round of 65 propelled Aaron Baddeley to a tie for fifth at the Korn Ferry Tour’s MGM Championship in Las Vegas while Hannah Green’s tie for 12th was the best of the Aussies as Kiwi Lydia Ko claimed the LPGA Tour’s Lotte Championship in Hawaii.

PGA TOUR
RBC Heritage
Harbour Town Golf Links, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
T9           Cameron Smith  62-71-74-66—273            $US186,375
T25        Cameron Davis   69-69-70-68—276            $52,274
MC         Danny Lee           68-73—141

European Tour
Austrian Golf Open
Diamond CC, Atzenbrugg, Austria
T7           Austin Bautista   74-67-71-69—281            €20,940
T33        Deyen Lawson    77-70-71-69—287            €6,725
T53        Maverick Antcliff              72-74-71-73—290            €4,042
MC         Jake McLeod      81-81—162

LPGA Tour
Lotte Championship
Kapolei Golf Club, Kapolei, Oahu, Hawaii
1             Lydia Ko               67-63-65-65—260            $US300,000
T12        Hannah Green    70-67-66-68—271            $31,197
T27        Su Oh     73-68-66-67—274            $16,152
MC         Minjee Lee          71-71—142
MC         Gabriela Ruffels 70-72—142
MC         Katherine Kirk     69-74—143
MC         Sarah Jane Smith              75-70—145

Korn Ferry Tour
MGM Resorts Championship
Paiute Golf Resort (Sun Mountain Course), Las Vegas, Nevada
T5           Aaron Baddeley 71-65-73-70—279            $US20,100
T35        Harrison Endycott            75-66-70-73—284            $3,450
T52        Brett Coletta      69-72-72-75—288            $2,538
T69        Rhein Gibson      72-67-79-76—294            $2,334
MC         Jamie Arnold       72-71—143
MC         Steven Alker        72-71—143
MC         Brett Drewitt      72-71—143
MC         Ryan Ruffels       75-70—145
MC         Curtis Luck          76-72—148
MC         Robert Allenby   80-73—153
MC         Nick Voke            82-72—154

Symetra Tour
Casino Del Sol Golf Classic
Sewailo Golf Club, Tucson, Arizona
T60        Robyn Choi         71-73-76-75—295            $690
T62        Hira Naveed        76-69-71-80—296            $670
MC         Stephanie Na      74-74—148
MC         Soo Jin Lee          76-75—151
MC         Julienne Soo       79-73—152

Champions Tour
Chubb Classic
Tiburon Golf Club, Naples, Florida
T32        Rod Pampling     76-70-69—215   $US10,560
T32        David McKenzie 69-69-77—215   $10,560
T44        Stephen Leaney 70-75-72—217   $5,600