‘What you dream of’: Rookie pro from Australia wins Korn Ferry Tour’s Utah Championship

FARMINGTON — Four weeks ago, Karl Vilips Monday-qualified to play in a Korn Ferry Tour event over the mountains in Berthoud, Colorado.

What the 22 year-old rookie pro from Perth, Australia, has accomplished since then is nothing short of amazing.

With apologies to Olympic gold medal winner Scottie Scheffler, there might not be a golfer on the planet hotter than Vilips, who turned pro a few months ago after finishing his senior season at Stanford with the only tournament win of his college career, the Pac-12 individual championship.

Sunday, Vilips capped the remarkable stretch by cruising to a two-shot win over Americans Joe Weiler and Matt McCarty in the Korn Ferry Tour’s Utah Championship at Oakridge Country Club.

He tied for 13th in Colorado on July 14, tied for 15th the following week in Missouri, placed second alone last week in the Chicago area and then fired a closing-round 5-under 66 amid 96-degree temperatures in Utah.

Now that is some sizzling hot golf.

“It is just kind of what you dream of when you qualify in,” Vilips said. “Four weeks ago, you step in, you try to keep playing. In your wildest dreams, you imagine winning and shooting up the rankings. … Just happy to see today all that stress solve itself.”

Vilips cashes the $180,000 first-place check and becomes the 15th first-time winner in 20 events on the Korn Ferry Tour this year. He zoomed up to 15th on the points list and is excellent shape to be in the top 30 at season’s end and earn a PGA Tour card.

“My really ambitious goal is to get No. 1 on the points list, but that would take a few more wins,” he said, while contemplating playing at the KFT stop in Omaha, Nebraska, next week because he’s played in tournaments for six straight weeks.

“So we are just going to try to win every time we step up on the first tee of a tournament. I think the expectations here are to get that PGA Tour card.”

He’s well on his way. It has been a while since a win in the 33-year-old Utah Championship has catapulted a golfer to PGA Tour stardom, but Vilips seems like an ideal candidate. Before his third round last week in Chicago, a Utah Sports Commission official called and offered him an exemption into this week’s event, which he accepted.

Turns out he didn’t need it, as those without status on the KFT can play the next week if they finish in the top 25. Still, the exemption gave him some peace of mind.

“That just freed me up to…