Austin Bautista and Ga-young Lee, winners of the 2016 NSW Am
Golf NSW photo/David Tease
Austin Bautista has taken out the 2016 Golf NSW
Amateur Championship over his Bonnie Doon
team mate Troy Moses at Riverside Oaks Golf
Resort today.
The 19 year-old was never headed in the final and
put on a commanding display of golf, winning 6
and 5 in the 36-hole final.
Bautista was elated with his win.
“Yeah, I mean NSW Amateur champion. It sounds
good. I live in Sydney so to win this, my State
Amateur is a pretty big deal to me.”
Bautista was dominant in the final, hitting a lot of
quality shots and making a bunch of good birdie
putts to put pressure on Moses from the very first
hole of the match.
“I made some putts early on, like I planned. And I
hit the shots I needed to.”
Moses threw plenty at Bautista early on but the
young gun had the answers.
“Troy’s a really good player. When he hit a good
shot I was right there and I was able to fire right
back at him. There was a lot of high quality golf
going on. I got up early and I kept making the
birdies and kept making the plays.”
“To be 5 up after 18 was exactly was I looking
for.”
The afternoon round was a bit more of a battle for
Bautista, with Moses throwing caution to the wind
and trying everything he had to reduce the
deficit.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect in the second 18. I
knew Troy would come back hard so I just tried to
continue to hit good shots, and I did.”
The match was seemingly Bautista’s by the 25th
hole in the afternoon round. His lead was by then
was out to a massive 8 holes. Moses however
made a couple fo birdies and managed to grab
wins on a couple of holes, reducing the deficit to 6
holes by the 27th.
Bautista had his first chance to take the match on
the 30th, hitting a sweet iron to about 6 feet. His
putt for the title shaved the lip.
“It pissed me off a bit, I mean I hit a perfect
drive, A perfect second shot to 6ft for the win. It
was a left edge putt, I came across it and it
missed.”
His disappointment didn’t last long. A driver and
short iron to 30 feet followed by a two putt sealed
the championship.
“I mean it’s probably my biggest win for sure.
NSW Amateur Champion is pretty cool. I played
well at the Aussie Amateur but this was the next
step for sure.”
Bautista’s name now sits alongside some greats in
Australian Golf, including a couple of Major
winners in Eric Cremin and Michael Campbell.
More recently winners like Ben Eccles and Jarryd
Felton have gone on to make their mark in the
professional ranks.
“To see my name on the trophy with them is
pretty satisfying. Hopefully I’ll get an opportunity
to play a bunch of pro events soon.”
The all Bonnie Doon final was a first for the club,
and Bautista was thankful for the support with
several club members turning up to watch the
final.
“It’s a great result for Bonnie Doon. First and
second. I’m stoked. It was good to see a few
supporters come out and watch. It means a lot.”
Bautista smiled.
ABOUT THE NSW Men's Amateur
The NSW Medal is played over two courses. It is
two rounds of 18-holes stroke play and then match
play.
The field is evenly divided between the two
venues for the first day’s play with players
changing venues for their second round. The winner
of
the 36 holes stroke play
section of the Championship is the winner of the
NSW Medal.
The leading 32 players from the NSW Medal
(who have nominated to play in the NSW
Amateur) will be eligible to compete in the NSW
Amateur Championship Match Play, with each
match played over 18-holes other than the Final
which is played over 36-holes. The match play is
seeded with ties determined by lot.
View Complete Tournament Information