Two of the rising stars of Australian golf will take their talents to the game’s biggest stages in 2025 after an enthralling end to the Korn Ferry Tour and Epson Tour seasons in the US.

Entering the Korn Ferry Tour Championship in 18th position with 30 PGA TOUR cards on offer, Vilips responded to a nervy 75 in Round 1 with rounds of 70-71-70 to finish tied 20th and end the year 19th on the points list.

It continues a remarkable rise for the former child prodigy who grew up in Melbourne before moving to Perth and who only graduated from Stanford College in June.

He collected an exemption on the PGA TOUR Americas at the completion of his college career through the PGA TOUR University Ranking yet made just two appearances before taking a step up to the Korn Ferry Tour.

Affectionately known as ‘Koala Karl’, Vilips posted top 15 finishes in each of his first four Korn Ferry Tour starts, culminating in a victory at the Utah Championship.

Porter’s grip on one of 15 LPGA Tour cards was far less tenuous entering the Epson Tour season finale.

Starting the week 11th in the Race For The Card standings, Porter had to dig deep to hold hopefuls at bay.

A 5-under-par round of 66 in Round 3 elevated Porter from 42nd to 22nd on the Tour Championship leaderboard, a 2-under 69 in the final round enough to end the week 17th and claim the 10th of the LPGA Tour cards on offer.

By moving inside the top 10, Porter receives the Category 9 exemption category while those who finish 11-15 earn the Category 15 exemption category.

“I am actually really struggling to believe it,” said Porter.

“Even when I finished on 18, I had no idea… In my brain, I was like, Oh, there’s no way I’m making top 10. Obviously, I’m so excited for top 15, but I was like, there’s no chance.

“As things progressed, we moved up into 10 and I’m stoked. I can’t believe it. Hopefully it sinks in soon.

“I’ve dreamed about this since I was a little girl, so for it to be real so soon, I’m stoked.”

A member of the Golf Australia Rookie Squad, the highlight of Porter’s second season on the Epson Tour was her breakthrough victory at the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship in June.

The 22-year-old from the Sunshine Coast turned professional in 2021 and in 2022 won the Melbourne International on the WPGA Tour of Australasia.

Elsewhere this week, 50-year-old Brad Kennedy was tied for third at the CAN Championship in June, Greg Chalmers was outright third at the Constellation Furyk and Friends on the PGA TOUR Champions and Maverick Antcliff’s tie for seventh was the best of the Aussies at the typhoon-affected Mercuries Taiwan Masters.

Results

PGA TOUR Sanderson Farms Championship The Country Club of Jackson, Jackson, Mississippi 1 Kevin Yu 66-66-66-67—265 T11 Ryan Fox (NZ) 67-66-68-69—270 MC Tim Wilkinson (NZ) 74-73—147 MC Aaron Baddeley 73-77—150

DP World Tour Alfred Dunhill Links Championship Old Course St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland 1 Tyrrell Hatton 65-68-61-70—264 €739,482.05 T12 Kazuma Kobori (NZ) 70-70-67-65—272 €64,502.72 T19 David Micheluzzi 64-70-70-69—273 €50,023.79 T25 Daniel Hillier (NZ) 63-69-70-72—274 €39,366.54 T43 Sam Jones (NZ) 67-71-67-71—276 €20,444.50 T54 Cameron John 62-68-74-73—277 €13,919.66 MC Daniel Gale 68-74-66—208 MC Kade McBride 69-69-71—209 MC Brett Coletta 69-68-73—210 MC Jordan Zunic 70-69-71—210 MC Matt Jones 72-70-71—213 MC Lachlan Barker 76-68-71—215 MC Matthew Griffin 76-73-69—218 MC Jak Carter 75-78-66—219

Asian Tour Mercuries Taiwan Masters Taiwan Golf and Country Club, Chinese Taipei 1 Jbe Kruger 68-71-69—208 $US200,000 T7 Maverick Antcliff 73-71-68—212 $25,000 T13 Andrew Dodt 71-69-74—214 $13,000 T26 Todd Sinnott 74-71-72—217 $8,800 T31 Scott Hend 71-73-74—218 $7,716.67 T37 Jed Morgan 69-73-77—219 $6,880 T42 Brendan Jones 69-75-76—220 $6,450 47 Kevin Yuan 71-74-78—223 $5,900 MC Deyen Lawson 72-76—148 MC Aaron Wilkin 72-76—148 MC Zach Murray 74-74—148 MC Jack Thompson 75-76—151 MC Sam Brazel 74-77—151 MC Justin Warren 73-78—151 MC Harrison Crowe 81-75—156

Japan Golf Tour ACN Championship Golf Tournament Miki Golf Club, Hyogo 1 Takumi Kanaya 68-68-65-63—264 ¥20m Won in sudden-death playoff T3 Brad Kennedy 67-71-63-66—267 ¥5.2m MC Michael Hendry 75-73—148

Ladies European Tour Aramco Team Series Presented by PIF - Shenzhen Mission Hills Resort (World Cup Cse), China 1 Celine Boutier 66-68-66—200 $US67,970.25 T26 Kelsey Bennett 70-71-71—212 $5,256.37 T37 Kirsten Rudgeley 71-72-72—215 $3,262.57

Korn Ferry Tour Korn Ferry Tour Championship French Lick Golf Resort (Pete Dye Cse), French Lick, Indiana 1 Braden Thornberry 71-72-70-66—279 T20 Karl Vilips 75-70-71-70—286

Epson Tour Epson Tour Championship at Indian Wells Indian Wells Golf Resort (Players Cse), Indian Wells, California 1 Heather Lin 67-63-71-67—268 T13 Amelia Garvey (NZ) 66-68-71-68—273 T17 Cassie Porter 70-70-66-69—275 MC Fiona Xu 73-72—145

Challenge Tour D+D REAL Czech Challenge Royal Beroun Golf Club, Beroun, Czech Republic 1 Benjamin Follett-Smith 63-62-63-64—252 €43,200 MC Hayden Hopewell 68-68—136 MC Connor McKinney 73-67—140

LET Access Series Iberdrola Calatayud Ladies Open Gambito Golf Calatayud, Spain 1 Ellie Gower 73-65-68—206 €7,200 MC Laura Hoskin (NZ) 78-75—153

PGA TOUR Champions Constellation FURYK & FRIENDS Timuquana Country Club, Jacksonville, Florida 1 Rocco Mediate 67-66-71—204 $US315,000 3 Greg Chalmers 69-69-68—206 $151,200 T10 Steven Alker (NZ) 70-68-70—208 $46,620 T15 Rod Pampling 68-70-71—209 $35,700 T34 Stuart Appleby 70-73-69—212 $12,642 T45 John Senden 70-68-77—215 $7,770 T50 David Bransdon 79-68-69—216 $6,090 T53 Steve Allan 73-75-69—217 $5,145 T65 Michael Wright 76-76-69—221 $2,327 T65 Cameron Percy 72-74-75—221 $2,327

Sunshine Tour SunBet Challenge hosted by Sun Sibaya Umhlali Country Club, Ballito, South Africa 1 Luke Jerling 66-66-68—200 MC Austin Bautista 75-74—149