Karl Villips is one of the trending names in world golf. And rightly so. The Australian won the Puerto Rico Open just three weeks ago in what was only his fourth tournament on the PGA Tour, breaking the event’s record, by the way.
The 23-year-old player was not a professional less than a year ago. He debuted in July on the Korn Ferry Tour where he also didn’t need more than four tournaments to win a title. He spent six months on the circuit, which was more than enough to earn one of the PGA Tour cards and be named ‘Rookie of the Year’. Watch out for the Australian youngster.
Vilips speaks exclusively to Ten Golf ahead of the Texas Children’s Houston Open. He answers the call from his hotel room with simplicity and quite naturally.
Two days before the tournament begins, he says he feels comfortable with the course despite having played it for the first time on Tuesday: “It’s a long course, with second shots, so I think it suits me, and I’m probably hitting better than ever. Confidence is high, but we’ll have to see how the tournament unfolds and try to execute the game in the same way.”
Getting into the details, Karl acknowledges that “there’s really some shock in everything that’s happened to me in the last ten months, but not too much. I imagined winning this year on the PGA TOUR.” It might be a surprise, but not unexpected, and he explains his reasons: “I think I’ve worked hard on it, so it makes sense to me that it happened, especially in Puerto Rico. I knew it was my best chance, and I went all out for it.” Let’s remember that this event was held at the same time as the Arnold Palmer, and therefore, the top players of the circuit were not present. Vilips acknowledges this without issue.
In this process of assimilation, the speed at which the circuit moves is not allowing him to be fully aware and see beyond the golf clubs: “The truth is, I’m not having much time to stop and be aware, and that partly helps. I’m just going with the flow, trying to play golf, trying to win tournaments, trying to compete. And once I have a bit of time, I’ll be able to process it all.” Going with the flow is not always negative, and Karl knows it.
He is a young man ahead of his time, that’s clear, and his goals speak for themselves. The boy who started playing golf in Australia at just six years old has high, very high aspirations. They might seem pretentious. To some extent, they are, but Karl explains it with a lot of naturalness and normality. He is not giving himself more importance than he has: “I definitely want to be the best in the world. Number one is my goal, I want to win Majors and later enter the Hall of Fame.” Yes, at 23, Vilips has that ambition and talks about it naturally, without raising his gaze or puffing out his chest. To achieve this, winning Majors is key, and the Masters is the dream of his life. For now, he is not classified this year, but a victory this week could change everything.
In the same vein, he adds: “I think one of my characteristics is wanting to do everything well and be the best. I feel I can improve much more in my game, and I want that to happen. I think I can become the best in the world someday,” and he adds a nuance that seems trivial but is not. He talks about his way of competing: “I also really like the process of discovering what I’m missing or what’s holding me back, and I think it’s a very good trait for professional golf because as soon as you think you have something figured out, it humbles you instantly. So I’m very cautious, but I do think I’m good enough to win.”
Not only that, but he gives a concrete example of what he needs to improve to be the best in the world: “There’s something preventing me from being more consistent to be in the top ten week after week. So I’m looking forward to starting this learning process in the coming years to find out how we can be more consistent and try to reach world number one. I know it won’t happen overnight. So I’m looking forward to seeing what that journey holds for us.”
Moreover, with each step he has taken, he has reinforced his mentality: “I have a lot to do, obviously. But, you know, I’ve set very ambitious goals for myself in recent years, and I’ve achieved them. So I don’t think there’s anything so far that can stop me.” He’s not wrong if we look at his results in the last ten months.
He also speaks clearly about his game: “I think my strong point is the mental aspect and my iron play. It’s where I feel most comfortable. I also think I’m in a good place with my approach and putting. Where I’m working more is on gaining solidity with the driver. In fact, these last two weeks, on courses where you have to play very precisely on the fairway, is where I suffer the most.”
In this eagerness to be the best, there’s a culprit, Tiger Woods. “Since I was seven, Tiger has become my great idol, I’ve seen everything about him. There’s no video I haven’t watched. He was the one I watched on TV. Nowadays, I watch many of his videos; it’s impossible not to feel motivated on the course watching Tiger.” Not surprisingly, Vilips also studied at Stanford, where he acknowledges he studied everything related to the career of the Cypress native. He also includes Phil Mickelson as one of his great childhood idols. Vilips is now the first ambassador of Tiger’s brand, Sunday Red. For anyone, it would be a great pride, but you can imagine what it means for someone like the Australian. He hasn’t been able to meet him in person yet, but he gets excited remembering the message from his idol when he won in Puerto Rico.
Not only does Tiger appear on the Australian’s radar. As a true golf lover, Vilips loves history, and there’s a legend that appears on his radar: Seve Ballesteros: “I watched the documentary about his life a few years ago, and I got a bit emotional at the end. How could you not? As a child, I always heard legends, stories about who was the best. Obviously, I only focused on Tiger. I thought he was the best, but Seve was a legend.
Curiously, he acknowledges that a few days ago, Seve reappeared on his radar. “I was shown a video the other day about a similarity we have and how he positioned himself in front of the ball. Most players move the club in some way while preparing. Seve would prepare, shuffle his feet, but his club would stay still behind the ball. He made no movement. I’m the same. I move my feet, but I don’t move. I’m quite still, and then I stay still for a while before swinging. Someone mentioned it to me the other day and showed me a video. I loved the coincidence.”
Before saying goodbye, Vilips doesn’t forget his roots and thanks his father for all the effort he has made: “Without him, I probably wouldn’t be here today.”
