Jason Day might have fallen short in his quest for an Olympic medal but another Australian broke through on golf’s world stage. Promising rookie, Karl Vilips, claimed his first Korn Ferry Tour victory in just his fourth start as a professional at the Utah Championship.
The US-based Australian won by two shots over Matt McCarty and Joe Weiler.
Vilips, who recently graduated from Stanford University, the former college of Tiger Woods, carded a 25-under-par 259 at Hillcrest Country Club (67-62-64-66) for the win. He started the final day with a one-shot lead and didn’t make a bogey until the 72nd hole.
The 22-year-old began the US summer with limited Korn Ferry Tour status, but he’s on track to end the season with a PGA Tour card. After a second place at last week’s NV5 Invitational, Vilips was No.44 on the season-long Korn Ferry Tour Points List and rose to 15th after his win. The top 30 after the season-ending Korn Ferry Tour Championship in October earn PGA Tour membership for 2025.
Vilips is coached by Day’s former swing guru and caddie on the PGA Tour, Australian Col Swatton. His mind coach is Collin Morikawa’s swing coach, Rick Sessinghaus. Clearly, Vilips has a great team around him.
“Four weeks ago you step in, you try to keep playing and in your wildest dreams you imagine winning and shooting up the rankings,” Vilips said. “Suddenly a lot of stress is relieved and I’m just so happy to see today… all of that kind of be solved. My coach, Colin Swatton, and my mental coach, Rick Sessinghaus, have just played a huge role in being able to close out tournaments like this because that’s something I struggled with in the past historically.”
Vilips is from Perth, although he’s been based in the US nearly half his life. He began competitive golf at age 6. With his dad Paul, Vilips moved to the US aged 11, before he studied at Saddlebrook Academy (high school) in Florida. Vilips then played college golf at Stanford in northern California, where teammates included good mate Michael Thorbjornsen, who finished No.1 on this year’s PGA Tour University Ranking to earn automatic PGA Tour membership. Last year, Vilips and Thorbjornsen were among a handful of Stanford players who made it through final qualifying for the US Open at Los Angeles Country Club.
“We’re just going to try to win every time we step up on the first tee of a tournament,” Vilips said on Sunday in the US. “The expectations now are to get that PGA Tour card.”
Olympics
In Paris – well, Versailles technically – Day was Australia’s best hope at the men’s Olympic golf tournament at Le Golf National. The former world No.1 began the final day just five shots off the lead and wound up with a tie for ninth place after a closing 68. Day’s fellow Australian, Min Woo Lee, capped off his impressive comeback from a shocker opening round 76 with a 65-68-68 finish to post a seven-under total. Lee tied for 22nd.
Scottie Scheffler won the gold medal at 19-under courtesy of a final-round 62, while England’s Tommy Fleetwood grabbed the silver medal one shot behind, and Hideki Matsuyama earned bronze at 17-under.
“A top-10 finish for not quite having the stuff that you needed it was quite nice,” Day said. “Some guys are playing phenomenal golf right now that I’ve got to do a lot of work to get to that level. It’s just a good step in the right direction, especially with the [FedEx Cup] playoffs.”
Having skipped the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where golf returned to the games following a 112-year absence, Day said representing Australia this week was one of the highlights of his stellar playing career.
“This was a week where we were not playing for money,” he said. “We were playing for a medal and our country. You’re wearing it on your chest and it’s brought out old feelings that I thought I didn’t have and I still have deep down and why we play golf and why we love it so much. So it was impressive to see all the different countries out there. I thoroughly enjoyed the week and I’m hoping that I get to play LA in four years.”
Results (courtesy of Australian Golf Media)
Olympic men’s golf
Le Golf National, Versailles, France
• 1 – Scottie Scheffler (USA) 67-69-67-62 – 265
• T9 Jason Day 69-68-67-68 – 272
• T22 Min Woo Lee 76-65-68-68 – 272
• T35 Ryan Fox (NZ) 67-73-68-74 – 282
• 55 Daniel Hillier (NZ) 75-73-70-73 – 291
LPGA Tour
Portland Classic
Columbia Edgewater Country Club, Portland
1 – Moriya Jutanugarn (Thai) 67-69-64-66 – 266 $US 262,500
• T9 Grace Kim 66-65-70-70 – 271 $US
• aT39 Robyn Choi 67-67-70-73 – 277
• T52 Gabriela Ruffels 67-69-71-72 – 279
• T60 Hira Naveed 67-70-71-73 – 281
• MC Su Oh 72-70 – 142
• MC Sarah Kemp 75-71 – 146
• MC Sarah Jane Smith 73-67 – 153
Korn Ferry Tour
Utah Championship
Oakridge Country Club, Utah
• 1 – Karl Vilips 67-62-64-66 – 259 $US180,000
• T8 Brett Drewitt 66-64-64-70 – 264 $25,630
• T27 Curtis Luck 66-68-67-67 – 268 $6950
• T36 Rhein Gibson 65-66-68-70 – 269 $5275
• MC Dimi Papadatos 71-72 – 143
• MC Charlie Hillier (NZ) 75-71 – 146
Challenge Tour
Irish Challenge
K Club, Ireland
• 1 – Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 63-71-70-68 – 272 €43,200
• MC Connor McKinney 70-75 – 145
• MC Hayden Hopewell 70-76 – 146
• MC Tom Power Horan 76-78 – 154
PGA Tour Americas
BioSteel Championship
Ambassador Golf Club, Canada
• 1 – Barend Botha (Sth Af) 64-63-64-63 – 254 $US40,500
• T11 Harry Hillier (NZ) 65-67-63-66 – 261
• MC Grant Booth (NZ) 66-67 – 133
US Senior Women’s Open
• 1 – Leta Lindley (USA) 69-71-71-64 – 275 $US180,000
• MC Sue Wooster 76-77 – 143
European Legends Tour
Staysure PGA Legends Championship
Trump International Golf Links, Scotland
• 1 – Robert Coles (Eng) 69-69-75-71 – 284
• T7 Michael Campbell (NZ) 69-73-75-73 – 290
• T13 Scott Hend 70-79-75-68 – 292
• T13 Jason Norris 78-70-72-72 – 292
• T28 Michael Long (NZ) 74-72-75-74 – 295
• MC Peter Fowler 75-79 – 154
