Tag: Karl Vilips

Karl Vilips opens another Pinehurst chapter with early co-lead at North & South Amateur

Never count out Aussie Karl Vilips at Pinehurst. The North & South Amateur could be the latest example of that.

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.

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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Know their names: These top players will drive amateur golf in 2020

The following names are likely to appear in amateur golf headlines in 2020. Their path to the top of amateur golf is worth following.

In most cases, players have a limited window in which to make waves in amateur golf. Juniors and college players generally use amateur events – from the Western Amateur to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur to the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Women’s Amateur – as a platform to launch them into long and successful professional careers.

Even if amateur golf is transient for the top players, there’s still time to develop a rooting interest for these men and women. The following names – some highlighted individually, and some highlighted in clusters – are likely to appear in headlines on the biggest stages in 2020. Their growth and their path to the top of amateur golf is worth following. Here’s the background.

Emilia Migliaccio, top-ranked U.S. female

Emilia Migliaccio during a Curtis Cup practice session in December. (Photo: USGA/Steven Gibbons)

Migliaccio’s last act before returning to Wake Forest for her junior season was to represent the U.S. at the Pan-American Games. The team won gold that week in Lima, Peru, and so did Migliaccio, which made her the first American, male or female, to win a gold medal in golf at either the Pan American Games or the Olympics since the event was reintroduced to the games in 2015.

It’s fitting that Migliaccio is the top-ranked American in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (at No. 7) entering 2020. It’s also fitting that it’s a Curtis Cup year. Someone like Migliaccio, who shines in a team setting, would be an excellent leader for a U.S. squad looking to win on foreign soil. Migliaccio stands to figure in to all conversations surrounding women’s golf in 2020, from college golf to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

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Ben Shipp edges Garett Reband in South Beach International Amateur playoff

In the end, Ben Shipp put himself exactly where he needed to be coming down the stretch at the South Beach International Amateur.

In the end, Ben Shipp put himself exactly where he needed to be coming down the stretch at the South Beach International Amateur.

Despite entering the final round at Miami Beach Golf Club four shots off the pace, Shipp, a senior at North Carolina State, inched his way into contention and when the leaders stumbled down the stretch, found himself in a playoff for the title.

After two extra holes with Oklahoma senior Garett Reband, who had the lead or a share of it all week, Shipp earned his first title since the Puerto Rico Classic at the beginning of last spring’s college golf season.

South Beach International Amateur: Leaderboard

Shipp was only within reach of the leaders because of a third-round 67 at Miami Beach Golf Club. He played the front nine on Sunday in 2 over before turning and reeling off birdie, bogey, then eagle at Nos. 10-12. By the time Shipp made his next birdie, at No. 15, he had a share of the lead at 2 under. Reband made double at No. 15.

Both Reband and Shipp made birdie at No. 16 – a drivable par 4 – while Karl Vilips, the Australian teen who also was in contention, lost his share of the lead with a bogey.

Reband ultimately left the door open for Shipp with a bogey on No. 18. Shipp prevailed after two extra holes.

Ben Shipp watches his putt on the final playoff hole at Miami Beach Golf Club. (Photo submitted)

Shipp hails from Duluth, Georgia, and was runner-up in his last start of the fall college season, the Bank of Tennessee Collegiate. He advanced through the first two rounds of match play at this summer’s North & South Amateur, played at Pinehurst Nos. 2.

Reband ultimately finished second in Miami with Vilips in solo third at 1 under.

A pair of Englishmen finished fourth and fifth: Jake Bolton was even par and Benjamin Jones posted one of the best rounds of the day, 4-under 67, to finish at 1 over.

Patrick Welch, a sophomore teammate of Reband’s at Oklahoma, also had a closing 67 that put him in a share of sixth at 3 over along with German Jannik De Bruyn.

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Karl Vilips catches Garett Reband with one round to go at South Beach International Am

It took three days, but on the even of the final round at the South Beach International Amateur, Karl Vilips has caught up with Garett Reband.

It took three days, but on the eve of the final round at the South Beach International Amateur, Karl Vilips has caught up with Garett Reband, who had so far managed to stay ahead of the pack in Miami.

The more than 200 players who started the week were initially split between Miami Beach Golf Club and Normandy Shores Golf Club for the first 36 holes. After the cut fell on Friday, the second half of the event is playing out solely at Miami Beach.

On Saturday, Vilips had a 4-under 67 there that included six birdies as well as two bogeys. It moved him to 5 under total, where Reband, an Oklahoma senior, also sits. Reband’s card was similar, but with one fewer birdie.

South Beach International Amateur: Leaderboard

Vilips is an 18-year-old Australia native who has signed with Stanford for next season. It has been a big year for the teenager, who made match play at the Western Amateur over the summer, reached the quarterfinals at the U.S. Amateur, was in the top 10 at the Asia-Pacific Amateur (where a Masters invitation is on the line), and most recently competed for the Internationals at the Junior Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne near his childhood home.

He is the top-ranked player in Golfweek’s Junior Rankings.

Reband has had several top-10 finishes over the past few months and most recently was fifth at the Sun Bowl All-America Classic.

There’s a five-shot gap between Vilips and Reband and the next-closest player. Ben Shipp, a senior at North Carolina State, also had a 4-under 67 in the third round and moved into solo third. Englishman Jake Bolton is even and in solo fourth.

The field has faced tough weather conditions all week and a strong wind continued to blow during Saturday’s third round. The forecast calls for strong storms over Miami on Sunday, prompting tee times to be moved up to the morning. Players will compete in foursomes and tee times will begin at Nos. 1 and 10 at 7:30 a.m. ET.

U.S. surges to 9-3 lead after Day One of Junior Presidents Cup

Sparked by a series of ferocious comebacks, the U.S. opened up a commanding 9-3 lead at the 2019 Junior Presidents Cup.

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MELBOURNE, Australia – In 2011, Karl Vilips lived 10 minutes from Royal Melbourne and remembers attending the Presidents Cup on a rainy day to trek after Tiger Woods. Seven years later, Vilips, 18 and ranked No. 1 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Boys Junior Rankings, who was born in Jakarta to an Indonesian mother and Australian father and raised by his dad, Paul, in Perth, is back representing his country in the Junior Presidents Cup.

“This is really an unbelievable experience to come home and play here with the grandstands just days before the competition,” said Vilips, who has spent the past seven years developing his game in the U.S and is a Stanford University commit.

The only thing that could have made it better was winning two points on Day One of the Junior Presidents Cup, but that was not to be. The Australian tandem of Vilips and Joshua Greer lost both of their Sunday matches 2 and 1, including in the afternoon session when American Benjamin James (pictured above) buried a 60-foot birdie putt on 17 to seal the deal.

“Not much you can do about that,” Vilips said.

The U.S. side won four of six morning Four-Ball matches and claimed five of the six afternoon Foursomes matches to surge to a 9-3 lead. Seven of the 12 matches concluded at the 17th hole, with the U.S. team winning five of them. Four American players won both their matches Sunday: James, Vishnu Sadagopan, Maxwell Moldovan and Preston Summerhays.

Team USA celebrates after Maxwell Moldovan and Brett Roberts secured a full point at 18 for a 9-3 lead. (Adam Schupak/Golfweek)

The U.S. rallied to flip several matches, including halving two of the final three matches of the morning session after being 2 down with four holes to play. Canon Claycomb and Jackson Van Paris combined to birdie three of the last four holes to halve their match.

“That’s really the difference,” said Justin Leonard, the five-time Presidents Cup U.S. team member and 12-time PGA Tour winner who is serving as U.S. captain.

In the afternoon, Moldovan and Brett Roberts teamed to win 1-up over South Africa’s Jayden Schaper and Martin Vorster after trailing 2 down with 4 to go.

This is becoming old hat for Moldovan, the AJGA’s Rolex Player of the Year, who has been tabbed the Matchplay Ninja, and for good reason. He won the Polo Golf Junior Classic and went undefeated at the Wyndham Cup, which are both contested at math play, advanced to the Round of 16 in the U.S. Junior and knocked off Stewart Hagestad at the U.S. Amateur before falling to eventual champion Andy Ogletree in 19 holes. What makes him so tough in a match-play format?

“He’s always in play, never gets out position and makes a lot of putts and he gets in guys’ heads,” said Roberts.

When Moldovan made a 10-foot birdie putt on 15 to cut the deficit to 1 down, it breathed new life into the American duo.

“One down with 3 to go on this course a lot can happen,” Roberts said.

Moldovan knocked his approach to five feet at No. 17 to tie that match and the U.S. secured the full point when Vorster drove into trouble at 18 and the International team had to take an unplayable lie.

It took a search committee to find Martin Vorster’s drive at 18, but it was all for naught as they lost the hole and the match to the Americans. (Adam Schupak/Golfweek)

There are 12 Singles matches on Monday; it takes 12.5 points to win the Junior Presidents Cup. Leonard knows there is work still to be done for his team to retain the trophy, but he was more caught up in the experience these young competitors will always treasure.

“How do these kids go from this, playing one of the best golf courses in the world, to that next high school or junior tournament? It is going to be a little bit of a letdown,” he said. “The only difference between this and the actual Presidents Cup is that the grandstands aren’t full. Christmas for these 24 kids started on Dec. 6 in Melbourne and it’s been going on for four days now.”

Moldovan echoed that sentiment. “It’s been the best experience of my life, for sure,” he said.

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