BY Michael Vlismas
The Sunshine Tour’s most recent champion once walked away from being Australia’s number-one ranked amateur and a promising professional career to do humanitarian aid work in developing and war-torn countries for two years.
Austin Bautista’s thinking was simple.
“Golf is just focused on yourself. I’d seen a lot of people struggling in the world through poverty or natural disasters or drugs, and I wanted to focus on others and help,” says the 28-year-old Australian, who last week became a winner on the Sunshine Tour for the first time and who takes that form into this week’s Vodacom Origins of Golf Gowrie Farm Lodge and Golf Course in KwaZulu-Natal.
Related: Aussie rules as Austin Bautista bags win in Sunbet Challenge
After disappearing from golf for two years, cutting himself off from social media and all contact with his former life as he embarked on global volunteer work, Bautista made his return to professional golf in 2020.
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“I didn’t intend to come back to golf to be honest. I was going to continue doing volunteer work. But I realised that if I could be successful in golf, I’d maybe have a more global platform to help people.”
It seems apt now after his victory that his first professional tournament back was the 2020 South African Open, where he finished tied 40th. Now playing the Sunshine Tour fulltime this year, his season has been built around finishes of second in the FBC Zim Open, tied eighth in the Gary and Vivienne Player Challenge and tied third in the Sunbet Challenge Time Square, before winning last week’s Sunbet Challenge Wild Coast Sun.
Bautista is currently second on the Sunshine Tour’s Courier Guy Order of Merit standings and has plans to finish first at the end of the season and claim every single incentive and opportunity the Tour offers to take his career to the next level internationally.
“It’s been pretty good so far, and after the win I’m enjoying it even more out here.”
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Bautista says his victory feels like he’s come full circle in South Africa, where he did some volunteer work in the townships during his time away from the game.
“South African people are very spiritual and very home grown. They are focused on treating people nicely. They’re a very grateful people. There are a lot of good things about South Africa that don’t get promoted. It’s often just portrayed as a country of crime, but that’s not the truth. I’ve found it and its people to be beautiful.”
As much as he’s now playing great golf, Bautista is still focused on spreading the one message he believes strongly in – making life better for those around him.
“I’m an ambassador for the Drug-Free World campaign. I disagree strongly with drugs, whether prescription or street drugs. It’s pushed a lot on the kids in our society now, and we lose so many people to drugs. I’m an advocate for the 21 Precepts for better living. It’s just a simple guide to live better, and to treat people better.
“I’ve always been a very aware person, and I just believe that all people are born good. It’s important that we don’t get focused on all the bad things in life, and see how we can make it better. Whatever I do or say can rub off on someone’s day for the better or worse, so I just try to lead by example.”
