New Tiger Woods brand ambassador Karl Vilips has expressed his delight at playing with his childhood idol Rickie Fowler at the RBC Heritage. The Stanford alumnus recorded his first PGA Tour victory in just his third start as a pro when he ran off three straight birdies to break out of an unexpected duel at the Puerto Rico Open last month.
Vilips Delighted To Play With Fowler
Both Vilips and Fowler had no idea they would be playing at the RBC Heritage until a few days before the tournament. The 23-year-old only managed to qualify at the last minute due to the amount of FedEx Cup points he earned since the previous Signature Event. On the other hand, Fowler received a sponsor’s exemption for the event.
The pair eventually got the opportunity to play the first two rounds together, and Vilips described Fowler as his childhood hero and said it was a dream come true for him. The Tiger Woods Sun Day Red brand ambassador was elated to get the chance to share a round with Fowler, who was one of his favorite players growing up.
“This was our first time playing together,” Vilips said after his second round performance at the RBC Heritage. The 23-year-old also posted a childhood picture of himself with Fowler on his Instagram stories and it was later reposted by the PGA Tour. The picture was taken when Vilips was just 10 years old and Fowler was already making waves on the Tour.
“He was definitely one of my favorites,” the Australian added. “How could you not? It was in his prime era of just the long hair, the bright outfits, the Red Bull stuff.”
“I think he was playing in a tournament in Queensland at Royal Pines, and I was just walking around watching. I saw him near a coffee shop and said, ‘Hey, Rickie’, as a fan would, ‘can we take a picture?’ We took one, and I was probably half his height.”
Posting Childhood Picture Gave Vilips “Good Juju”
Karl Vilips also revealed that the picture held more meaning for him. “I think posting it last night on my story gave us good juju. I said we were going to go low, and we went pretty low today.”
The 23-year-old went bogey-free in the second round of the RBC Heritage. He carded an eagle and four birdies that took him up 38 spots on the leaderboard and into a share of 13th place at 6-under. The previous day, Vilips carded four birdies, two bogeys, and a double bogey. Rickie Fowler carded five birdies and a bogey to bring his 36-hole score to 3-under as he climbed up the leaderboard by 20 places after the second round.
Main Photo Credit: © Clayton Freeman/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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