Karl Vilips claims first professional victory at Korn Ferry Tour’s Utah Championship

In his sixth start as a professional, Karl Vilips claimed his first career victory at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank and Intermountain Health and climbed to No. 15 on the points list. The 22-year-old’s victory was promptly due after finishing inside the top 15 in his past three events, including a runner-up finish at the NV5 Invitational presented by Old National Bank. As a tournament winner, Vilips upgraded his Korn Ferry Tour membership to fully exempt after originally having conditional status from finishing No. 10 in the PGA TOUR University Class of 2024.

“We keep doing what we're doing, just getting as far up that points list as I can,” said Vilips in his post-round interview Sunday. “A really ambitious goal at this point is to get No. 1 on the points list, but that would take a few more wins. We're just going to try to win every time we step up on the first tee of a tournament and the expectations now are to get that PGA TOUR card.”

Vilips became the 17th PGA TOUR University alum to win a professional event and brought the total number of victories for alumni to 25. This season alone, eight victories have been claimed across three tours, as Vilips joins six additional alumni in the winner’s circle: Austin Eckroat (PGA TOUR) Chris Gotterup (PGA TOUR), Davis Thompson (PGA TOUR), John Pak (Korn Ferry Tour), Frederik Kjettrup (PGA TOUR Americas)and Ryan Burnett (PGA TOUR Americas).

The top 30 finishers at the end of the Korn Ferry Tour season will earn PGA TOUR cards for the 2025 season. Eight PGA TOUR University alumni sit inside the top 30, and William Mouw further solidified his positioning in the points list to No. 19 with a solo fourth at the Utah Championship. Logan McAllister recorded his best finish of the season with a T8, alongside Ross Steelman who posted his best showing since the opening event of the season.

Three PGA TOUR University alumni represented their respective countries for the first time at the Men’s Olympic Golf Competition at Le Golf National last week. Ludvig Åberg (Sweden) led the charge in 8-under and finished T18, followed by Belgium’s Adrien Dumont de Chassart (T40/-1) and Chinese Taipei’s Kevin Yu (52nd/+4). The PGA TOUR will conclude the regular season this week at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina at Sedgefield Country Club. Currently, three alumni are in the top 70 of the FedExCup standings and in position to qualify for the FedExCup Playoffs: Åberg (6th), Thompson (24th) and Eckroat (49th).

In the final event of a four-week stretch on PGA TOUR Americas, John Keefer recorded his third runner-up finish of the season at the BioSteel Championship in Windsor, Ontario. Keefer has yet to finish outside of the top-25 in any start as a professional, as his resume includes six top-25s, highlighted by five top-10s and three runner-up finishes. The 23-year-old moved to No. 2 in the Fortinet Cup, and he is joined by Frederik Kjettrup (No. 3)and Ryan Burnett (No. 8)as alumni in position to finish inside the top 10 of the Fortinet Cup and earn a Korn Ferry Tour card for the 2025 season.

PGA TOUR University Alumni – Korn Ferry Tour Points List 

*Class of 2024

PGA TOUR University Alumni – FedExCup Standings 

*Class of 2024

PGA TOUR University Alumni – Fortinet Cup Standings 

*Class of 2024