{"id":443035,"date":"2025-03-09T22:47:26","date_gmt":"2025-03-09T23:47:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=443035"},"modified":"2025-03-10T01:12:38","modified_gmt":"2025-03-10T01:12:38","slug":"koala-karl-aussie-prodigy-stuns-golf-in-tigers-clothes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=443035","title":{"rendered":"'Koala Karl': Aussie prodigy stuns golf in Tiger's clothes"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Australian golfing<\/a> prodigy dubbed "Koala Karl" just equalled Seve Ballesteros \ufeffwith his maiden PGA Tour win, and all while wearing clothes designed by Tiger Woods<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The headlines almost write themselves.<\/p>\n

"So, yeah, it's pretty surreal," 23-year-old Karl Vilips blushed after taking out the Puerto Rico Open on Monday.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Exposed' star could be Roosters' biggest concern<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> Dragons apologise as footage emerges of 'anti-social behaviour'<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Outstanding coach' emerges as Wallabies frontrunner\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Karl<\/p>\n

"It's a dream come true… this is what we dreamed of when I was a kid."<\/p>\n

Vilips – born in Melbourne and raised in Perth – was a superstar junior, winning the US Kids Golf World Championship twice, and then the Callaway World Junior at ages 10 and 12.<\/p>\n

He was 15 years old when he broke Woods' record as the youngest ever winner of the Junior Orange Bowl.\ufeff<\/p>\n

He took that form into college at Stanford University and last year won on the Korn Ferry Tour – America's reserve league – to earn a shot at the world-leading PGA Tour.<\/p>\n

It took him four starts to win his first PGA Tour event.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/MarkAllenGolf\/status\/1898841510466265525?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/acaseofthegolf1\/status\/1898839364970430934?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

He is only the 12th player to win a tournament on the tour inside their first four starts – Spanish icon Ballesteros is another.<\/p>\n

\ufeffMore than that, Vilips shot a tournament record 26-under – with rounds of 65, 67, 66 and 64 – to beat Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen by three shots.<\/p>\n

The victory netted him more than $1.1 million in prize money – the same that Jason Day earned for finishing eighth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational<\/a> – and a ticket to this week's prestigious \ufeffThe Players Championship.<\/p>\n

He also gets a start at the US Open this year and a two-year exemption to the PGA Tour.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\"Karl<\/p>\n

The Players – won by Australia's Cameron Smith in 2022 – is worth $40m in total prize money and is colloquially referred to as golf's fifth major.<\/p>\n

\ufeffIf Vilips was relatively unknown to the wider sporting world on Monday, he has the chance to change that in a big way at The Players.<\/p>\n

But he was certainly known to those within America.<\/p>\n

So much so, he was the first professional player signed to \ufeffWoods' apparel company Sun Day Red<\/a>, which launched last year.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/SunDayRed\/status\/1891898653805011384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

Woods even left him a voicemail after his victory.<\/p>\n

"I got on my phone after the round and I was just scrolling, like who was texting me? I think I got one from a random number that called me as well. Then there was a voicemail saying it's Tiger and I couldn't like process it in the moment,"\ufeff Vilips laughed after the victory.<\/p>\n

"I signed it three weeks ago, so not too long since a Sun Day Red player has gotten a win.<\/p>\n

"I think it's really special. I think it shows me that there's a reason why they chose me to rep their brand and I'm just really happy to be able to do it in a way that's, you know, as myself.<\/p>\n

"It's really cool and I know everyone at Sun Day Red team is going to be super happy. You've got to look good to play good, so yeah, it's really cool."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Australian golfing prodigy dubbed "Koala Karl" just equalled Seve Ballesteros \ufeffwith his maiden PGA Tour win, and all while wearing clothes designed by Tiger […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":443037,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443035"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=443035"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443035\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":443040,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443035\/revisions\/443040"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/443037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=443035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=443035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=443035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}