Australia’s Austin Bautista won his second Sunshine Tour title this season by clinching the Fortress Invitational at Houghton Golf Club by five shots from defending champion Warwick Purchase on Sunday.
“I love winning golf tournaments. I love competing. I want to continue to play well and continue to work hard and put myself into a position to win tournaments. I know I am pretty good at closing,” a delighted Bautista said after capping his final-round 67 with a birdie on the last.
He finished on 16 under par overall, with Purchase his nearest challenger on 11 under following his closing 68.
🔥The moment Austin Bautista became a 3-time winner on the Sunshine Tour.👏🏆 #TheFortressInvitational #GreatnessBeginsHere #SunshineTour https://t.co/xfjV6uIzAR
— Sunshine Tour (@Sunshine_Tour) October 11, 2026
Zander Lombard, Altin van der Merwe and Jonathan Broomhead shared third place on 10 under par.
Bautista, who started his round with a two-shot lead, opened with a run of three birdies from the second to the fourth holes, before giving one back on the ninth hole.
“After bogeying the ninth, I was just trying to get back into a good position and frame of mind. I had a good eagle putt on the 10th hole but three-putted that. Normally, years ago when I was a young amateur, I probably would’ve let that get to me. I just know losing your head and losing your cool now doesn’t do you any good – just lock into the next shot and hit a good one,” he said.
A word from The Fortress Invitational champion, 🗣️🏆 #sunshinetour #greatnessbeginshere #thefortressinvitational https://t.co/vbGHTtqAVy
— Sunshine Tour (@Sunshine_Tour) October 11, 2026
It was another confident performance from the Australian, who is pushing hard for Courier Guy Order of Merit honours in second place behind leader Samuel Simpson.
“I like seeing my name up near the top. There is a lot of golf to play and a lot of points still to get. The support of the Sunshine Tour has been fantastic. I love playing in South Africa and Africa. There’s a reason why I like playing in South Africa – the players are so supportive and so friendly. I am very grateful for being able to play on this Tour,” Bautista said.
Bautista’s performance capped another impressive edition of the Fortress Invitational.
“What an exciting few days of golf at beautiful Houghton. The day began with everyone asking, ‘Who could it be?’ It was fantastic to see our former rookie, Jonathan Broomhead, come in third and defending champion, Warwick Purchase, come second. But today belonged to Bautista—congratulations on becoming the fifth Fortress Invitational champion. The quality of golf and spirit of competition made this year’s event truly special. Thank you to all the players, supporters and everyone who helped make the Fortress Invitational such a memorable occasion,” Steven Brown, CEO, Fortress Real Estate.
Charles Dlamini was awarded the Sunshine Tour caddie medallion as the winning caddie of the tournament.
Congratulations to Charles Dlamini who gets this week’s caddie medallion🥇 after helping Austin Bautista to The Fortress Invitational title🏆 #sunshinetour #greatnessbeginshere #thefortressinvitational https://t.co/LhnBVEmmba
— Sunshine Tour (@Sunshine_Tour) October 11, 2026
And Tristen Strydom enjoyed some good fortune as he aced the par-three 14th hole to become the ninth player this season to be added to the Airlink Aces Shoot-Out at the end of the season. He also earned 100 000 Skybucks courtesy of Fly Airlink.
SCORES
268 - Austin Bautista 70 67 64 67
273 - Warwick Purchase 69 71 65 68
274 - Zander Lombard 73 69 65 67
274 - Altin van der Merwe 69 67 69 69, Jonathan Broomhead 66 72 67 69
275 - Luke Brown 67 70 71 67
275 - Tyran Snyders 69 68 68 70
276 - Luis Carrera 71 67 72 66
276 - Lyle Rowe 67 71 71 67, Robson Chinhoi 68 70 71 67, Hennie O'Kennedy 72 67 69 68, Pierre Viallaneix 71 69 68 68, Jaco Van Zyl 68 74 66 68, Morris Schiefner 71 66 66 73
277 - Samuel Simpson 74 69 67 67<
277 - Stals Swart 66 72 71 68
278 - Martin Rohwer 71 71 70 66
278 - Jaco Ahlers 75 67 68 68, Kyle Barker 71 72 65 70
279 - Gabriel Morgan 72 71 69 67
279 - Estiaan Conradie 69 71 71 68, Christiaan Burke 71 73 67 68, Jaco Prinsloo 70 70 69 70, George Coetzee 69 73 67 70
280 - Stuart Krog 73 71 68 68
280 - Jason Roets 70 74 68 68, Simon du Plooy 70 71 68 71
281 - Nikhil Rama 71 69 71 70
282 - Daniel Cronje 72 70 75 65
282 - Tristan Leonard 74 69 71 68, Charl Barnard 72 72 69 69, Rhys Enoch 71 72 67 72, Haydn Porteous 67 69 73 73, Keagan Thomas 70 71 68 73, Jordan Burnand 73 68 68 73
283 - Benjamin Follett-Smith 63 72 81 67
283 - Ricky Hendler 69 70 67 77
284 - James Mack 69 75 70 70
284 - Rigardt Albertse 70 74 70 70, Daniel van Tonder 66 73 74 71, JJ Senekal 72 66 74 72,
Adam Breen 69 71 72 72, Jacques Van der Merwe 75 68 69 72, Rowan Lester 71 73 68 72
285 - Ryan van der Klis 69 72 75 69
286 - Jbe' Kruger 71 69 77 69
286 - Stephen Ferreira 73 71 71 71, Joe Sullivan 73 67 74 72
288 - Tristen Strydom 72 72 78 66
288 - Allister de Kock 74 69 75 70, Trevor Fisher Jnr 70 72 75 71, Eric Wowor 71 69 75 73,
Ethan Smith 73 70 69 76, Graham van der Merwe 68 68 74 78
289 - Cole Stevens 71 73 74 71
289 - Matt Millar 69 75 73 72, Benjamin Kedochim 70 74 72 73, Ulrich van den Berg 72 71 72 74, Sentanio Minnie 72 70 71 76, Rupert Kaminski 74 70 69 76 290 - Keelan Africa 73 71 70 76 290 - Malcolm Mitchell 71 73 69 77 291 - Jacques P de Villiers 71 72 71 77 292 - Tristin Galant 73 70 76 73 293 - Musiwalo Nethunzwi 71 73 72 77