[Photo: Getty images]
Karl Vilips says he’s already dreaming of representing Australia at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles after his Korn Ferry Tour win catapulted him to within reach of a PGA Tour card for next year.
The 22-year-old has had a whirlwind week processing his victory at the Utah Championship, in what was his fourth professional start on the PGA Tour’s secondary circuit. It comes only two months after the Perth native graduated from a stellar college career at Stanford University, the former school of Tiger Woods.
Vilips grew up playing some junior golf against Min Woo Lee in Western Australia before moving to the US aged 11 to attend high school in Florida and then college at Stanford. Vilips is coached by Col Swatton, the legendary Australian swing guru and caddie who taught Jason Day from high school level to major champion and world No.1.
Coupled with a second place in the NV5 Invitational prior to his breakthrough win, Vilips rose to 15th on the Korn Ferry Tour points standings. The top 30 after the season-ending Korn Ferry Tour Championship in October earn a PGA Tour card for 2025.
“The goals at the start of the year were to try and win on the (third-tier) Canadian tour and try get conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour,” Vilips said Wednesday in a call with Australian reporters. “The goals have definitely changed a lot over the last two months.”
Last weekend, when he took a one-shot lead into the final round, Vilips managed to watch some of the Olympic men’s golf tournament on TV – where his countrymen Day and Lee represented Australia in Paris. Day teed off on the final day at Le Golf National five shots off the lead and was an outside chance at a medal.
“Before the last two rounds I played, I was able to watch it and it was nice seeing Min Woo and Jason play,” Vilips said.
Vilips wants to wear the green and gold in LA in 2028 after winning the gold medal for Australia in the men’s golf event at the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires in 2018. His fellow Australian, Sydney’s Grace Kim, also won gold in the women’s event at that Youth Olympics.
Vilips and Kim won gold in 2018. Photo: Youth Olympics
“It would mean a lot for me to obviously be on that team [in 2028]; I competed for Australia at the Youth Olympics, so I guess the next step for me there would to be on the actual team,” Vilips said. “I think winning gold for Australia would be very special to me. Hopefully I can be a part of that team if all goes well.”
Golf’s return to the Olympics, which first came in 2016 after a 112-year absence, took three attempts to resonate with fans. In 2016, golf was maligned as an Olympic addition while golf debated whether its busy men’s and women’s schedules needed another tournament. Fears of the Zika virus in Brazil didn’t help, either. In 2021, golf at the postponed Tokyo games was marred by a lack of atmosphere brought on by Covid-19 restrictions.
But Paris proved a turning point. Especially for Gen Z, Vilips said.
“I think the Olympic gold medal is something that my generation will strive for more than others,” he said. “2016 was tough with Zika, not everyone wanting to necessarily go over to Rio. Then Covid and 2021 (in Tokyo) was obviously also very tough. This year we really saw the first signs of guys really wanting a medal spot, a lot of emotions out of guys like [gold winner] Scottie [Scheffler] and [silver medallist] Tommy [Fleetwood] coming down the stretch. I think my generation is taking notice and I would say at least the next Olympics and even the Olympics after that [in Brisbane in 2032] it’s going to be something that we show up for and everyone really wants to win. We obviously haven’t really seen that from the last two prior to this one.”
For now, Vilips had to let his feet touch the ground and prepare for this week’s Pinnacle Bank Championship in Nebraska. It’s the second-last event of the regular Korn Ferry Tour season before the four-tournament finals series.
“I’m pretty solidified in those rankings [Korn Ferry Tour], so the goal now is to get up as high as we can on my points list,” Vilips said. “When I first got out here, it was a little bit of a leap from college golf, for sure with how low the guys are going out here. Shooting 23-under in Chicago [to finish second] and then 25-under [during his win] really showed me that I have the ability to go low. Seeing who I’m able to compete with week in week out, gives me a lot of confidence to see that I can compete at the next level.”
