McLean County Times

Illinois State University's men's golf team is set to welcome a new addition for the 2024-25 season. Head coach Ray Kralis announced that Francis Bautista, previously a golfer at Cal State Dominguez Hills, will be transferring to join the Redbirds.

"Francis is a proven winner with a number of top finishes showing he has the game to compete week-to-week," said Kralis. "He can take advantage of holes with his club speed and should have plenty of opportunities to score low. The additional competition he brings to the squad will only make us stronger and bring our team goals closer within reach. While we lost three players who played major roles in our recent success, our vision is to continue elevating Redbird Golf, and Francis is going to help us do that."

Bautista hails from Tujunga, California, and has spent the last two seasons competing at NCAA Division II level for Cal State Dominguez Hills. In his most recent season, he maintained an average of 72.4 strokes per round over 29 rounds and individually qualified for the NCAA Division II Regionals. His performance included four rounds under 70, highlighted by a season-low score of 67 during the HPU Sharks Shootout on October 24, 2023.

The talented golfer was named a 2024 PING All-Region honoree and emerged as the individual medalist at the HPU Sharks Shootout with scores of 68, 72, and 67 over three rounds for a total of 207. Bautista achieved seven top-25 finishes across ten events and was ranked individually at number 130 by the college golf scoreboard.

During his freshman year, Bautista recorded an average score of 75.8 with two rounds under 70 and achieved his best score of 68 at the Southwest Air HPU Shark Shootout. He secured three top-25 finishes that season, including tying for 18th place at his collegiate debut event, SMU Bishop Men's Invitational.

The Illinois State Redbirds are coming off an impressive season where they set a new program record for season scoring average at 285.2. The team's players collectively achieved or surpassed par in 96 rounds throughout the season.

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