Karl Vilips began his summer with limited status on the Korn Ferry Tour.
He’ll likely end it with a PGA Tour card.
In just his fourth KFT start as a pro, Vilips, a 22-year-old Stanford product by way of Australia, won the Utah Championship by two shots Sunday at Oakridge Country Club in Farmington, Utah.
The win bumps Vilips to No. 15 in points with just six events left in the season. The top 30 players in points at the end of the Korn Ferry Tour Championship in October graduate to the PGA Tour.
Vilips, a former junior prodigy, was the 36-hole leader at the NCAA Championship in May before slipping to a T-8 finish. As a result, he only climbed to No. 10 in the final PGA Tour University ranking, which came with full Americas Tour status but only conditional membership on the KFT. He turned pro and proceeded to miss the cut in his Canadian debut. He followed with a T-33 finish before entering a qualifying tournament for the KFT’s Ascendant event in Colorado. He won that, earning a sponsor exemption into the actual event, where he tied for 13th to clinch his spot in the next week’s tournament, the Price Cutter Charity Championship. Vilips posted a T-15 there, then a runner-up finish at the NV5 Invitational a week later, skyrocketing to No. 44 in points entering this week’s Utah event.
Vilips took control at Oakridge with a second-round, 9-under 62. He shot 64-66 on the weekend to hold off runners-up Joe Weiler and Matt McCarty.
Should Vilips indeed clinch his Tour card, he would become the second PGA Tour University product to do so in his first summer on the KFT, joining 2023 PGA Tour U product Adrien Dumont de Chassart.