Another Pinehurst chapter in the Karl Vilips story has begun. The 19-year-old native Australian is just the latest Aussie to show an affinity for the Sand Hills of North Carolina, and after a quarterfinal run at the 2019 U.S. Amateur here, Vilips is at the top of the North & South leaderboard.
Vilips, who just completed his freshman season at Stanford, also owns two U.S. Kids Golf World Championship titles won in the Pinehurst area. The place clearly suits him.
On Tuesday in the opening round of the North & South Amateur, Vilips shot up the leaderboard with his 5-under 65 on Pinehurst No. 4.
To get to match play at the North & South Amateur, a player has to run the gauntlet of both Pinehurst Nos. 2 and 4. On opening day, the two courses didn’t play all that differently. Both play to a par of 70 but averaged just over 72 for the field.
Scoring: North & South Amateur
Interestingly, Vilips’ start wasn’t all that pretty. He had three consecutive bogeys on the first three holes but managed to erase them with three consecutive birdies on Nos. 7-9. He added five birdies on the back nine, including four straight to close the day.
“For some reason, my game and Pinehurst just seem to get along,” Vilips told Pinehurst writer Alex Podlogar. “There’s not a lot of trouble off the tee, and my ball always seems to be very generous to me when it misses. I always seem to have a shot. I guess the course and I like each other very much.”
Christian Banke, who just finished a fifth year at Arizona after three previous seasons at San Diego State, also fired a 65 on No. 4 for a share of the lead while Zack Gordon, a Clemson senior who holed the ACC Championship-clinching birdie putt for the Tigers this spring, rounded out the trio on top with his 5-under 65 on Pinehurst No. 2.
After Wednesday’s second round, the field will be whittled to 32 men and the format reset to match play.
Fill in the blank for us:
The pin flags for the 121st North & South Amateur are ____________. pic.twitter.com/fzRC5GJgkv
— Pinehurst Resort (@PinehurstResort) June 29, 2021
Other notables near the top of the leaderboard on Tuesday afternoon included Vilips’ fellow Aussie Louis Dobbelaar, the recent Australian Amateur champion who started his summer season by winning the Dogwood Invitational in Atlanta three weeks ago. Dobbelaar, a top-50 player in the world, had 2-under 68 on Pinehurst No. 2 to land in a big tie for 10th.
Pinehurst native Jackson Van Paris is also on that number as well as Ollie Osborne, runner-up at last summer’s U.S. Amateur at Bandon Dunes.
Neither Tyler Strafaci, last year’s winner, nor William Holcomb, the runner-up, are in the field this week.
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