It took a 62 in the final round for Austin Bautista to win on the Sunshine Tour as Scott Hend established a new course record on his way to victory on the Legends Tour in Spain.

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