Ahead of this week’s BMW Australian PGA Championship on the DP World Tour, Calum catches up with Australian golfer Austin Bautista, to talk golf in Africa, competitiveness and goals for the golfing season.
Hello and welcome to That Was Golf. I’m your host Callum McVicker. Thank you for joining us on this interview/catchup episode with Australian golfer Austin Batista. Austin is playing on the Sunshine Tour over in South Africa this year with a couple of wins to his name and sitting fourth place on the Order of Merit. We catch up with him prior to the start of the BMW Australian PGA Championship which takes place in Brisbane this week. And just a quick warning before the episode starts, this has a couple of swears in it. Yeah, I played nine holes Monday, nine holes today, and then I got the prom tomorrow. So, um, seeing the course, Royal Queensland, seeing it for a bit, trying to see, uh, I mean, I’ve played this tournament, I think this is my third year now. Um, so I’ve played it a few times, but, um, I feel like I’m definitely a bit longer off the tea now, and my game is a little bit different. So seeing the golf course how it is playing now is definitely key and coming up with a game plan for the week. Are you are you finding that having that little bit extra distance off the tea is just allowing you to go more aggressive on different holes? Yeah, this course particularly is like uh is a little bit wider on certain holes. Um so you can just kind of let the big dog eat. Uh but certain holes is definitely certain strategy is required to be able to um attack certain holes. It’s kind of a funny one because like even though you can hit it far, it’s just like the greens and the way that the contours of the greens are are kind of molded is that you are still winning the tournament from the greens back to the tea. Not really from the tea, but to the green. How have you been finding uh playing on the Sunshine Tour? Um, and like what’s the difference you’re finding between playing on the Aussie tour to Sunshine Tour? What’s some of the kind of big differences? Um, you know, I mean it’s funny because like the tours are quite similar. I would say a so like probably one of like the most noticeable differences is that caddies are mandatory on the Sunshine Tour. So you have to have a caddy uh every single event no matter what. you have to get used to that because um that’s just another added fee for the week. But also when you’re like it’s local caddies, so it’s people that are over there and have been working that tour for a bit. Um, so if you know if you don’t have a regular on your bag, you’re trying to find a new guy, um, trying to build a relationship and, you know, maybe you don’t, maybe you do, but you know, you kind of having to and because it’s mandatory, you have to like, you kind of want to have someone good. There are there are pretty solid caddies, but it’s also like uh you know, if you’re a new guy coming into the tour, you’re picking up new caddies here and there. And the guys change caddies quite often over there. So, you’re um trying to uh just kind of go about that and getting a new a new one each week or trying to find a solid one. Um luckily for my my brother’s going to come over and do some of the bigger ones over there in the next couple of weeks. But um some of the main differences obviously the um I guess the biggest difference is probably just the food is like I think we take it for granted in Australia the food that we have sometimes. Um I mean it’s just like very very very good quality food. Uh especially the dairy. Um the meat over here is very very good. Um but uh what else? I mean there there is an element of danger in Africa. I wouldn’t say it’s a lot. It’s um there are certain certain things that you do have to kind of be a little bit not like skeptical of but there are certain areas that you just tend to want to avoid. There’s just certain things that you don’t do. But I think um I mean obviously like you’re in Australia like it’s pretty hard to find a dangerous pl spot. Like if you if you really wanted to go look you could probably go find something but it’s a pretty tough place to find danger. I mean you’d have to go to like a very specific part of town and any of the major cities and try and look for it. But I mean in in Africa and South Africa I mean it’s probably just a little bit easier to find it. Um it’s not you don’t you don’t really have any runins. It’s not something that I’m afraid of when I’m over there. there. I don’t necessarily like worry. I’m more worried about when we play Sun City, uh the big five on the golf course. Like there’s there’s like leopards and lions that have literally have been spotted at like 5:00 a.m. 4:00 a.m. walking the golf course before the tournament starts. And like I’m not even kidding you. Like when you have a 6:30 a.m. tea time and they’ve had like in the past couple years they’ve had actual lions spotted walking the fairways as the sun’s coming up. It’s like I’m the first one out here. What’s stopping that lion from still being out here? Like that’s a real thought that goes through your head and then like you’re walking and your ball might be in the right rough and you’re like looking at the bush and it’s just like bush bush. So it’s like you can’t see anything. And the thing about lions is like just cuz you can’t see them like they can see you like they going to get you if they want to. Um but yeah, that part’s pretty scary. Um yeah. Anything else different wise? I mean the players are different. Like I think uh that tour they have 28 events, four DP events and five challenge tour events. Um yeah and cost cost of living in Africa is very very very cheap. Everything’s cheap. Um so you have a lot of guys making a career on the Sunshine Tour and they are able to make a career out of it. um just because there’s so many events and there’s so many easy ways to just like continue to make enough money to support yourself and a family over there. So in Australia because cost of living is so expensive, what you have on this tour is that um there’s 18 18 or 19 events is that it’s not necessarily that the top 50 make enough money to just kind of live and pay rent and kind of do their own thing. like they usually have to have another job or they’re coaching or they’re living with their parents still. Um, and yeah, that’s that’s like I think that’s probably what hap what you notice the differences there is that like on the Sunshine Tour is that you have guys that are like veterans. Um, you have people that are out there that are like very very committed to staying on that tour and not um not leaving not leaving it because they make enough they make enough money to stay there. So then what’s what happens it’s the harder to beat them cuz they play those courses like year in year out. You know what I mean? Um, and then on the Aussie tour, you kind of, it’s not that like some of the guys on the Aussie tour are per like uh like not like fully veterans, but it’s just that like they also have another job, but the guys on the Sunshine Tour, you know, like they have committed like full-time like this is what I do. Yeah. So, they can focus more on like grinding every day, making themselves as best as possible, and they don’t have to think about like going to the office or something like that. Yeah. Exactly. Right. Are you enjoying like traveling around Africa? You’ve done a couple of events like around the country as well. Are you enjoying like the travel in between? Yeah. Yeah, those parts are cool. Like going to like Zimbabwe and Zambia um and other different places. I haven’t been to all of the uh new places yet cuz this is my first uh full time doing a full season on this tour. Um but I have been to those places before. Zimbabwe and Zambia. um beautiful different like again like it’s those those spots are not um the most like uh wealthy countries but they have their beauty uh in different in different ways you know um and it’s just also it’s a different experience. I’m here for different experiences. I’m here for learning new things and um that’s a part of golf and I think you know doing the same thing over and over again um can get boring. So, you know, going to a shitty golf course and shitty not like a shitty country, but just like a different type of vibe is it’s a nice thing to do. And Zimbabwe’s golf course is actually really really nice. It’s beautiful. Um, the greens are unbelievably good. Um, and it’s a really nice parkland course. It’s like right in the main uh city. Um, I think it’s Harrari. Um, and it’s Yeah, it’s beautiful. Uh, so that I really enjoyed that. and and Zim uh in Zim for Zimbabwe and open they have uh tons of fans come out like I was in the final group and there was about a thousand people walking with us uh which on the back nine yeah the back n was pretty cool so you have but they also they were gambling and which was funny because they had they had picked the guy that was leading obviously going into the final round he is leading by two shots and so then they’re like they’re humming and a like ooh a kind of Fine. Yeah. Um coming back to uh this week, how are you feeling um going into the next couple of weeks like the BMW and then the Aussie Open? Um you like relishing the chance to be back home and you’ve obviously like won over here really recently. You won over in Perth. Um so are you feeling like nice and comfortable? Yeah, I mean like golf-wise it’s uh it’s process over prize, right? So, you just focus on what you do day in day out. You stay consistent with your practice, stay consistent with everything you can golf-wise, um, off the course, on the course, so that when it comes down to compete, it’s just another day hitting the golf ball and doing doing your absolute best. Um, you know, you do your best and the results will come. So, as far as that goes, that’s what I have been doing for the last year and it’s producing a lot of good results and I’ve put myself in contention to win tournaments and I’ve capitalized some and I haven’t some, but um I continue to just do that same thing and uh good results follow. Um but as far as being back in Australia playing these events, these ones are really good events and there’s a very strong field for both of them. Australian PGA has got a great field. Australian Open at Royal Melbourne is just that’s a 10 out of 10 golf tournament. Um, it’s going to be spoken about for a long time because it’s just it’s going to be I mean I think it’s the first time at Royal Melbourne since 1991 and it’s got Rory, you know, it’s got all of the big Aussie guys. You know, you couldn’t have necessarily a more exciting field uh unless you had Tiger or Scotty Sheffler because it’s just like it’s Rory Maroy. which is coming off of a mast’s just won the race to Dubai and then it’s all of the best Aussies. It’s you’re not missing one of the Aussie Aussie names that you love. If you if you you know follow golf and you Australian, you know, you’ve got your Minu Lee, you got Cam Smith, you got Cam Davis, Mark Leeman, you also have, you know, the new up and cominging Australian golfers that are also making a mark for themselves. And then you have the live guys too like walking nean, Carlos Ortiz, like Abraham An like you know you got Marco Pen like you got just a strong field for like two good golf tournaments which is uh I think Australia is very spoiled for uh what they have to come in the next couple of weeks. And there’s such a huge prize as well for the Aussie Open with like the invite to the Open and then invite to the Masters. I mean it’s like such a huge carrot to have for everybody. Yeah, that is um especially yeah for the masters. I mean it’s it’s like that’s a life-changing uh uh invite right there. You go and compete at the Masters. Not a lot of people get to say they did that. It’s probably the hardest one to get into. Yeah. And I feel like the the the change in like the rules where like the a lot of the different opens around the world are now offering that spot is like probably going to really highlight those local opens in different countries. And it’s like amazing that that’s all coming to Australia. Yeah, that is cool. It is very cool cuz they also I mean I get double uh double dips because I get to play the South African Open as well. Um so two chances at a Masters start but um it’s uh it’s a very cool thing that they’ve done and I think yeah the Masters I mean it’s it’s always been a small field the Masters I think it’s like usually like 90 90 to 100 guys um and then it’s a cut of 50 or 60 but it’s uh yeah it’s pretty epic. It’s uh unbelievable. It’s yeah, really really cool. In terms of like goals for the year, um what’s like the Have you got like an end goal that you’ve set for yourself? Is there like anything you really want to achieve or is it just like kind of doing your thing and and and seeing what the end of the season brings? Yeah, I mean I have uh I have I think one of the main goals that I I I mean I do goals for every year and they’re always very very uh very big goals because you know you set big goals when you try and reach for the big ones. Um, but one of them was to be to like have one of the like hardest working years I’ve had to work the hardest I have. Um, and I and I I’ve done that and I’ve maintained that which is good. Um, and um, another one’s a is just to continue to uh, kind of like compete, but compete the way I like to compete. I um you know like I have this like persona on the golf course that like I’m quite aggressive or serious or um kind of like willing to do everything to get the W. But it’s um when it comes time to compete like that’s me you know like that’s who I am. So that’s uh and like when I am not like that, when I’m trying to be something else, then I don’t play my best golf because I am extremely competitive in every sport that I play, no matter what it is, even if I’m not the best at it. Um so I will uh I’ll always try and maintain that just because um whenever you lose that, you know, you kind of lose why what makes golf fun. And I just love I love I love beating people. I love competing. Uh, I love trying to, you know, knowing that they’re working their hardest to beat me and I’m going to be better than them on the day. That’s something that I aspire to do every day. Yeah. Um, did that make the um the playoff against your mate Jay McKenzie over in Perth? Did that make that a little bit more special and kind of spicy like having that competitive edge over a friend? Uh, that one was tough because like he is a really good friend of mine. I would like to have seen him win because a win for him means a lot. Um, yeah. you know, uh but um yeah, we played today in a practice round. We played for some cash and uh I made a put on the last to get the tie and he uh he just missed it. So, I think um yeah, it’s fun. I I I more so like beating people that don’t like me because they they have beef with me or they’re jealous of my of me or my success or whatever they whatever reason they want to have for why they may not like me. I like going against them and being like, “Yeah, what now, dog?” Like, “This is your job. I just beat you at it.” Like, I want that to be I take it personally. Like, if I get a play with them in a final round and it’s like me and him like head headto head and I’m trying to like get the win, it’s like there like every single time I make a putt and they’re like, “Oh, this guy takes it so serious.” And I like fist pump and I like look him dead in the eyes and I’m like, “Let’s go.” You know what I mean? Like if that pisses them off, like I’ll just continue to do that. Like every single time, like I make a par putt from like 6 ft. Come on. You know what I mean? Like that’s uh like I think I think it like it helps you a little bit because um if they don’t like you, then things that you do annoy them, then you’re kind of living rentree in their head. So I’ll have you been uh have you been chirping up a few people in South Africa then this season? Uh, no. I don’t try and like specifically rub people the wrong way, but uh if uh if my attitude does while I’m trying to compete and win tournaments, then it just does. But I’m not I’m not trying to like talk them like and turn turn myself into a bad guy. I’m just trying to win a golf tournament. And if they want to say that I’m really competitive and I can be hated for being really competitive, like, okay. Well, I think the mo the one the number one guy that we all all admire who’s our hero in golf is Tiger Woods. Probably the most competitive sports athlete you’ve ever met by far. Yeah. Yeah. After you finish up in Aussie, um what’s the plan for the rest of the year? Are you spending Christmas time over in South Africa or are you going to be back here? Yeah, I head over um the day after Australian Open. I go over on uh Monday to South Africa for the uh Alfred Dunhill at uh Royal Johannesburg Golf Club. Um and then the following week is at Mauritius, which is our both VP events that are co- sanctioned on the VP tour. Before we wrap up, Austin runs us through his top five picks for the BMW Australian PGA Championship this week. So, here’s my top five picks for who I think will round out the top five for this week’s tournament. You’ve got Austin Batista in there. Top five. Uh, we don’t know which way we’re going to do. We’re not going to put it in any order specifically. We’ve got Adam Scott, obviously Australia’s golden child. We’re going to throw him in the mix. Cameron Smith, a very big favorite. Loves this golf course. Uh, number three, we’re gonna put Mark Leechman in because Mark Leechman is just a great golfer and a great great guy. And I’m gonna throw in uh Marco Penge, I think, is a round up my top five. Thanks for having me. This is Austin Batista, and that was golf.
