Rookie Karl Vilips Leaves Tiger Woods On Read After Earning First PGA Tour Win In Puerto Rico

Karl Vilips has been on quite a ride as of late. The 23-year-old rookie recently became the first brand ambassador for Tiger Woods' Sun Day Red apparel line. Less than a month after inking that historic deal, Vilips earned his maiden victory on the PGA Tour in Puerto Rico this past Sunday in impressive fashion.

Vilips held the lead heading into Sunday's final round of the Puerto Rico Open, but with the tournament being a birdie fest, the rookie was going to have to post a low number yet again to earn the win. 

That's exactly what the Australian did, posting an 8-under 64 to win the event by three shots over runner-up Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen. 

Karl Vilips earned his maiden win on the PGA Tour, and then left Tiger Woods on read. (Photo by Edgardo Medina/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

As expected, Vilips' phone blew up with notifications after he sealed the deal on Sunday. He took a peak at a few of them between interviews and celebrations, and it turns out that he left Woods on read.

"I got on my phone after the round and I was just scrolling," Vilips explained, "Like ‘who was texting me?’ I think I got one from a random number that called me as well. Then there was a voicemail saying it’s Tiger and I couldn't like process it in the moment, I was just trying to—I’ll get back to that later. That’s pretty cool."

Having a voicemail from Tiger Woods and not immediately calling him back or, at the very least, shooting him a quick text message is wild work, but it could be a sign that Vilips is a legitimate star in the making. He cares that Woods reached out, sure, but not hitting pause on the festivities going on to get back to the big cat is a big-timer move.

Vilips played his college golf at Stanford just as Woods did, and the two are clearly somewhat close given the brand deal and, therefore, have a relationship on some level, but leaving the founder of your apparel brand on read is something.

On top of already becoming a winner on the PGA Tour, Vilips is known as one of the original Golf YouTubers, with his dad, Paul, documenting his golf journey for more than a decade. Vilips' YouTube channel has videos that date all the way back to 2008 showing him as a six-year-old beating golf balls in his backyard.