Vilips, 22, shot 67-62-64-66 to win by two shots in Farmington, Utah, even allowing for a bogey at the 72nd hole and picked up $US180,000 prizemoney.

He was runner-up in Chicago last week and now is projected to jump to 15th on the tour standings. The top 30 at season’s end graduate to the PGA Tour for 2025.

Vilips was a child prodigy growing up in Melbourne and then Perth, winning the United States Kids Championship aged nine. He spent the last part of his high school years in the USA, then studied at Stamford University on scholarship where he won the Pac-12 individual title in 2024.

Remarkably, he only turned pro in June. His victory in the Pac-12 allowed him to finish 10th in the PGA Tour University ranking, which earned him conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour and fully exempt status on the PGA Tour of Americas.

Turning pro has agreed with him, clearly; he has carded eight rounds in the 60s in a row.

“I just leant on all the moments in the past where I’ve been in contention,” said Vilips. “I’ve had a few of those recently, and just tried to stay confident and committed and trust the swing. I was happy to see that.”

Vilips was delighted to have his father Paul at the course. “Him being here, seeing all the ups and downs and to celebrate the success of today is something special.”

Afterward he said his aim for the rest of 2024 was to “get as high up the points list as I can”.

At the Olympics in Paris, Jason Day could not make a final-day charge but finished inside the top 10 in the men’s individual strokeplay on his Games debut.

On the LPGA Tour, Grace Kim logged another top-10 finish in Portland.

PHOTO: Karl Vilips celebrates today. Image: Getty

Results

Olympic men’s golf
Le Golf National, Versailles, France
• 1 – Scottie Scheffler (USA) 67-69-67-62 – 265
• T9 Jason Day 69-68-67-68 – 272
• T22 Min Woo Lee 76-65-68-68 – 272
• T35 Ryan Fox (NZ) 67-73-68-74 – 282
• 55 Daniel Hillier (NZ) 75-73-70-73 – 291

LPGA Tour
Portland Classic
Columbia Edgewater Country Club, Portland
1 – Moriya Jutanugarn (Thai) 67-69-64-66 – 266 $US 262,500
• T9 Grace Kim 66-65-70-70 – 271 $US
• aT39 Robyn Choi 67-67-70-73 – 277
• T52 Gabriela Ruffels 67-69-71-72 – 279
• T60 Hira Naveed 67-70-71-73 – 281
• MC Su Oh 72-70 – 142
• MC Sarah Kemp 75-71 – 146
• MC Sarah Jane Smith 73-67 – 153

Korn Ferry Tour
Utah Championship
Oakridge Country Club, Utah
• 1 – Karl Vilips 67-62-64-66 – 259 $US180,000
• T8 Brett Drewitt 66-64-64-70 – 264 $25,630
• T27 Curtis Luck 66-68-67-67 – 268 $6950
• T36 Rhein Gibson 65-66-68-70 – 269 $5275
• MC Dimi Papadatos 71-72 – 143
• MC Charlie Hillier (NZ) 75-71 – 146

Challenge Tour
Irish Challenge
K Club, Ireland
• 1 – Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 63-71-70-68 – 272 €43,200
• MC Connor McKinney 70-75 – 145
• MC Hayden Hopewell 70-76 – 146
• MC Tom Power Horan 76-78 – 154

PGA Tour Americas
BioSteel Championship
Ambassador Golf Club, Canada
• 1 – Barend Botha (Sth Af) 64-63-64-63 – 254 $US40,500
• T11 Harry Hillier (NZ) 65-67-63-66 – 261
• MC Grant Booth (NZ) 66-67 – 133

US Senior Women’s Open
• 1 – Leta Lindley (USA) 69-71-71-64 – 275 $US180,000
• MC Sue Wooster 76-77 – 143

European Legends Tour
Staysure PGA Legends Championship
Trump International Golf Links, Scotland
• 1 – Robert Coles (Eng) 69-69-75-71 – 284
• T7 Michael Campbell (NZ) 69-73-75-73 – 290
• T13 Scott Hend 70-79-75-68 – 292
• T13 Jason Norris 78-70-72-72 – 292
• T28 Michael Long (NZ) 74-72-75-74 – 295
• MC Peter Fowler 75-79 – 154