We are nearly three months into the 2025 PGA Tour season. Not many people would probably have predicted the answer to this trivia question. Who is the only Australian to win on the PGA Tour in the calendar year? The answer is Karl Vilips of Perth, who at 23 years of age, won the Puerto Rico Open earlier this month. Vilips’s win was overshadowed because it was on the same day that Russell Henley won the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Vilips posted a four round score in Puerto Rico from March 6 to 9 of -26. He won the tournament by three strokes as as Rasmus Neergard-Petersen of Denmark was alone in second place at -23. Vilips had four rounds in the 60s. He had a first round score of seven-under-par 65, a second round score of five-under-par 67, a third round score of six-under-par 66, and a fourth round score of eight-under-par 64. Vilips had two eagles in winning the tournament. He posted scores of three on a par five on the 14th hole in round one and on the sixth hole in round four.
Prior to this year, Vilips’s greatest accomplishment was winning a gold medal for Australia in the male individual event at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires. It was one of two gold medals for Australia in golf at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games. In the female individual event, Grace Kim of Sydney placed first.
Vilips was born in Indonesia, and raised by his father. He is currently ranked 115th in the Official World Golf Rankings.
