Karl Vilips: Hole-in-one joy for West Aussie at Wyndham Championship

West Australian

3 days ago

WA rookie Karl Vilips has scored his first hole-in-one on the US PGA Tour to cap off a consistent tournament as American Cameron Young broke through for his first title at the Wyndham Championship in North Carolina.
Vilips scored his ace with a 179-yard shot on the third hole using an eight iron.
His final-day 67 followed earlier rounds of 67, 67 and 69 for a four-round total of 270, 10 under for the tournament, leaving him in a tie for 19th place.
Vilips was the leading Australian at Greensboro, but finished a distant 12 shots behind first-time PGA winner Young.
The American shot a two-under-par 68 in the final round and wasn't challenged on his way to his first PGA Tour victory on Sunday (local time).
'It's the end of my fourth season and I've had my chances -never quite like this,' Young said. 'I wasn't going to let it get away from me.'
Young strung together five consecutive early birdies and cruised to a six-stroke triumph at 22-under 258 at Sedgefield Country Club, where he matched the tournament scoring record.
The American, who began the day with a five-stroke advantage, became the 1000th different winner in the history of the PGA Tour. He had previously been a seven-time runner-up.
After tapping in the final putt, Young hugged his caddie and began to walk off the green.
'Where do I go?' he said. 'I've never done this before.'
Mac Meissner posted 66 to finish runner-up at 16 under. Mark Hubbard (63) and Sweden's Alex Noren (64) tied for third place at 15 under.
Amateur Jackson Koivun (67), a junior golfer at Auburn University, Chris Kirk (68) and defending champion Aaron Rai (68) of England shared fifth place at 14 under.
Playing not far from the Wake Forest campus where he went to college, Young was in control for most of the tournament.
After a bogey on the first hole on Sunday, Young put together his string of birdies for what became a nine-stroke advantage. He then had pars on nine consecutive holes before bogeys on the par-3 16th and par-4 17th. He barely missed a birdie attempt on the last hole.
The final margin marked the third-largest winning spread on the tour this year. He became the tour's 12th first-time winner of the season.
'I've been waiting for this for a while,' he said.
Denny McCarthy matched Hubbard's 63 for the best score on Sunday and ended up at 12 under, tied for 11th place.
Of the other Australians in the field, Cam Davis finished in a tie for 44th place at four under, a shot ahead of Adam Scott (tied for 55th), with Aaron Baddeley tied for 72nd spot at two over.
The tournament marks the final regular-season event on the tour, with golfers needing to finish in the top 70 of the season standings to advance to the FedEx Cup playoffs beginning on Thursday.