Golfing Scrapbook of     "Koala" Karl Vilips

2012

7th February: Karl appeared on Triple M's "Hot Breakfast" with Eddie McGuire. The 65 second interview can be heard here.

6th February: Karl appears in Melbourne's Sun Herald newspaper. Article here.

6th February: Karl played in the Flinders Golf Club's Pro Am located on the picturesque Mornington Peninsula.

The course was stunning, making play a pleasure.However, the main reason for the day was to help raise funds for the charity "Very Special Kids" which helps terminally ill children. Anyone wanting to help these kids can go to the website here.

4th February:The Monthly Medal at Karl's clubsaw him Teeing off from the full Championship Tees,thereby seeing him needing much more club on all holes, and not being able to reach many of the holes in regulation.

With the added length Karl typicallyl hasn't got any hope of playing to his handicap in Monthly Medal rounds and usually shoots in the mid-high 80's. However,Karl embraces a challenge and today's round of 83 washis best Monthly Medal round to date.

With no tournaments at all until the end of the month, Karl will take a laid-back approach for the next week or so.

30th January: Karl shoots 78 "off-the-stick" for 37 Stableford points in Monday's club competition at Southern Golf Club. With an ACR (Australian Course Rating) of 73, that equated to a 5-over Par round, equaling his own Personal Best. I was only there for the "Back-Nine", but with increasingly strong winds of up to 45mph that saw limbs falling off the trees around us, his ball control into the wind was possibly the best that I've seen from him.

Also, we've uploaded video from Karl playing the tournament at The Metropolitan Golf Club on the 23rd of January. To view that, click here

27th January: With school commencing for the year next week the Gross & Nett winners of this summer's events all played off in the "Summer Series Final" at the Croydon Golf Club in perfect summer weather. Unlike the event at Metropolitan last week, this time we checked that we had Karl's clubs in the car before we left home at 5.30 in the morning for the hour drive to the course.

Karl competed in the Under 14 division and played solid golf for an 84. Although not at his best after such an early start, Karl missed just the one fairway, whilst unfortunately his fairway woods let him down again for the 2nd week straight. However, his short game was solid enough to see him record a respectable score. A year ago he was signing for much higher scores when things weren't going perfectly, so what's become evident lately is that he's able to avoid having a bad score even when his game isn't firing on all cylinders.

The amazingly consistent 13-year-old Ryan Ruffels left the entire field in his wake with a 2-under Par 70 to scoop the prizes, whilst Karl finished 4th out of the 15 players in his division. Full results can be viewed here.

Karl will now have a break from tournaments for a month to sort out his fairway woods in preparation for the Colts (Under 21) Pennants season which begins in March.

23rd January: Karl shoots 83 in a Stuart Appleby Junior Golf "Regional Series" event at Melbourne's Metropolitan Golf Club.

This was Karl's 2nd event at "The Metro", and we aren't alone in being blown-away by the beauty and design of the course. Back in 1930 the legendary Walter Hagen wrote "Metropolitan is by far the finest course I have played in Australia", and in 2001, PGA Commissioner Tim Finchen commented " I don't recall being at one of our events in the last few years where every player in the field is just ecstatic about the golf course.Metropolitan has enhanced its reputation as one of the worlds great golf courses".

A comedy of errors saw us arrive at The Metropolitan without Karl's clubs, so we managed to go back to get his clubs and be back with just minutes before Karl's Tee Time. As such, he missed out on a warm-up, but it was a good opportunity to see how he'd go without having had one.

As with other Melbourne Sandbelt courses such as the Presidents Cup course, Royal Melbourne, the greens are rock-hard and as fast as glass. Numerous shots which were landed on the front of the green rolled over the back, particularly on the Par 3's. Add to that the protection which the bunkering gives the greens and you soon realise that only high trajectory shots will have any chance of holding the greens, making it tough for Karl to play to his handicap on this course. That meant that to play to his handicap Karl's putting and bunker play would have had to be spot-on, and they were, getting up & down most of the time.

He did however, prove that he's still a young kid who "goes for broke" on every shot by recording a "10" on one of the Par-5's to blemish what would have otherwise been a magnificent round and settle for an 83. That's all part of the learning process, and what Karl's got in his favour is his age and the fact that every mistake is something he can learn from.

I have video highlights uploaded here. Full results here.

20th January: Karl played in the annual Riversdale Junior Open which (unusually) was conducted in a Stableford format. I say unusual, but feel that many more Under-14 tournaments could take a leaf out of their book and use the Stableford format to negate the "one bad hole" that most juniors have.

The course was presented in magnificent condition and was the best-run junior tournament that we've attended in a long time, leaving no doubt as to why it's regarded as one of the very best courses in Melbourne. Riversdale is a very hilly course, so Karl's physical size compared to the other 18 players in the Under-14 age division made more difference than it normally would. He hit 100% of fairways and his fairway woods worked well. However, he under-estimated the "break" on the Santa Anna greens and uncharastically missed 2 extremely short putts to shoot a 9-over 81. With no "wipes" on his card though, he posted 34 Stableford points to finish a solid 3rd.

It's easy to forget that he is a mere 10-years of age, so as he matures he'll better interpret various types of greens. Full results here.

18th January: Karl played with Elvis (yes, he really did)in his club's weekly Wednesday competition in thisweek's formatof "Par". I'm usually a critic of this format for how it doesn't reward players as much as Stableford does on good holes and had never before seen the upside of it. However, today I did. Karl'd had a very late night last night at a sleepover at a mate's place and only got to the club just minutes before his Tee-time still wearing yesterday's shirt, complete with icecream stains on it.

Needless to say I got a phone call at homeafter he'd played just 3 holes to come down and join him and frankly, the format probably saw him hand in a better card than he would have otherwise had.At the turnhe was an awful "5-down",but found something from deep within to go aroundthe Par 36 back half in just 37 shotsto return a "Par" score of "2-down". I think he learnt something from today's round that he can use in a future round.

16th January: Fresh upload here of Karl winning the Under 14-years Nett in the 2012 Victorian Junior Masters.

15th January: Although being a roundfrom last month, we finally uploaded video of Karl from a weekly member's competition at his home club. He had started "dipping" in his swing this past fortnight, so his swing actually wasn't 100% in the past 2 tournaments this January, so this video here is actually a better example of a good swing for kids.

14th January:We've uploaded video of Karl's play in the Stuart Appleby Junior Golf's "Signature Tournament" here. There are some good examples of his Driving and Sand-Saves.

13th January: New Mens playing handicap of 7 after getting down to 6.8 after a few weeks of solid golf during this summer holiday tournament season.

Karl's hitting the ball a long way and getting to various Par 4's in just 2 shots where he previously wasn't able to. Oddly though, his short game has been a bit off this past fortnight, but we'll get that fixed up soon enough.

More than anything else this season, he's enjoyed catching up with some old mates from interstate who have come to Melbourne for the tournament season. That can make it hard to focus during a round at times when they're busy telling jokes to each other, but hey, he's 10-year's-old and is having a great time.

I've uploaded a couple of photos from this week from both Thursday and Friday (today).

7th January:Karl played in his club's Saturday Members competition, shooting 81 off the stick and dropping his handicap to 6.8 in the process. I only watched Karl play the last hole and a half, but it was obvious that he was striking, shaping and puttingthe ball with enormous confidence.

His playing group advised me thatKarl almost got his 2nd career Ace whenhis Tee Shot hitthe flag on the Par 3 12th and settled next to it. He scored hissole Ace to date at the 2009 Callaway Junior World Championships.

6th January: Karl played in the long-awaited Under-12 division of the Stuart Appleby Golf Foundation's Signature tournament at the Jack Nicklaus designed Heritage Golf Club. It attracted a field of 134 of Melbourne's best juniors aged between 10 and 17 years. Karl's score of 81 from the White Tees (in between the Ladies and Men's Tournament Tees)ona Par 72saw him win by 3 shots. He'd been awaiting this tournament for many months due to it being the only opportunity in the year to compete against players closer to his age.

His fairway shots let him down a bit today, but (as it so often does) his putter saved his bacon on numerous occasions.

As an added bonus Karl also grabbed the "Nearest-the-Pin" on the 163-meter (179 yard) 11th hole. With a headwind worth at least 2-clubs and water both short and right of the Green, Karl hit a controlled Driver to within 6-feet, then dropped the Birdie Putt.

It's been a good week for Karl with today's result backing up his winning the Nett in the Under 14's at the Victorian Junior Masters just 2 days before.

Despite the 2 wins this week, from a Parent's perspective I was most impressed with how all the boys have so much fun with each other after the round. It's easy to forget that at the end of the day, golf is still a game. Well done also to Ashley and Dayle from the Stuart Appleby Junior Foundation for having had to work tirelessly toreschedule this event from December when it was rained out.

5th January: Karl wins the Victorian Junior Masters Under 14 Nett. With 25 players competing in the Under 14 age division on handicaps ranging from Plus 1 to 18, Karl was the Nett Winner in the Under 14's age division.

The tournament was a stringent test of Karl's course management, as well as his mindset. Prone to being extremely tough on himself, Karl overcame the occasional bad shot or 3-Putt to post 2 consistent rounds and win by a single stroke. The Greens proved extremely tricky for all the players with 3-Putts causing heartache to everyone. The 1st Day was played in 105 degree temperatures and strong winds, whilst the 2nd day was also hot, yet with even stronger winds. Karl's ability to shape his Drives either way to counter the wind, as well his Sand-Save ratio were his biggest assets.

Bearing in mind that Karl finished with a better Gross result than some players in the Open division who play of +1 handicaps, it goes to show just how tough a test the course was and why it's taken players like Jason Day and Aaron Baddely to win it in the past. Although I caddied for Karl in this event due to it being the hilliest course on tour here, it was Karl himself who made all decisons relating to club selections. The only input I had as his caddy was in discussing the Green reads with him on those few occasions when he had trouble interpreting the speed and turn. However, as he proved with shooting a Career Best 5-over in yesterday's club competition without a caddy, he's prefectly capable of getting the Green reads right most of the time. That ability to play without a caddy will put him in good stead to Win this years Callaway Junior Worlds in July over in San Diego. He'll be playing in the no-caddy 9-10 years division again this year, but after having finished 13th last year, he'll give the title a serious shake this year. Rory McIlroy's first attempt at this age group saw him finish 38th, whilst the following year at age 10 he finished 5th. Karl's good mate since they first played together in the 2008 World's, Japan's Kota Murakami (pictured here to the right with Karl in 2009 ) practices 10 times more than Karl does and has the best short game in the world for his age, so it could likely end up being a tussle between Karl, Kota and another couple of regular performers for the title.

Another good mate Ryan Ruffels (who at just 13 years of age is playing off Plus 1) won the Under 14 Gross by a big margin and we hope that Ryan goes all-the-way in the 13-14 Years age division at this year's Junior Worlds.

Karl has been attending weekly Junior Clinics at the Sandringham Driving Range here in Melbourne these past few months where Head Coach Jonathan Porter has helped Karl obtain better balance with his swing, so with Karl having hit almost every fairway in regulation despite such strong winds, our thanks go out to Jonathan.

5th January: Down to 7.8!!! After narrowly missing the final cut at the Victorian Junior Masters, Karl had today free and decided to play in the member's Thursday competition at his home club. According to Karl's playing partners (I stayed home to watch the cricket), he played wonderful golf enroute to recording his new "Personal Best" with a 5-over 78, slashing his handicap down to 7.9 in the process.

January is summer holiday golf season in Australia, so tomorrow sees Karl Tee-it-up at the Stuart Appleby Golf Foundation's "Signature" Tournament on the Jack Nicklaus-designed "St Johns Course" at The Heritage Golf Club here in Melbourne. It's Karl's only realistic opportunity of winning the Gross in a tournament here due to this particular one having a 12 & Under age division.

4th January:2nd Round of the Victorian Junior Masters. To quote the tournament organisers;

"The annual Victorian Junior Masters will again attract the leading players from around Australia and Internationally in 2012. A field of 174 under 18's will tee up for the event which will commence at Waverley Golf Club on Tuesday 3 January 2012.

The event is considered Australia's leading junior golf tournament with past competitors including Adam Scott who finished in the top 5 in each of the four years he competed from the age of 15 along with winners including Aaron Baddeley in 1998, prior to winning 2 Australian Open titles, and Jason Day in 2005 who at the time was the World Junior Amateur Champion."

The 2nd day's play was played in strong, gusty winds which saw the leading players record up to 10-shots more than their first day's score. Karl's task was to stay on the fairway, and he did just that to post an impressive 82, just 1 shot more than day 1 and which saw him shoot up the leaderboard. which you can view here.

There are 169 players in the event, with a Cut-line of Top 60 plus ties. Karl was competing in the Under 14 section, so was competing with players in his age division with handicaps as good as +1, being 10 shots better than his handicap of 9. As yet we aren't sure how his age division results will be calculated, but at the cut point, Karl had missed the cut by 3 strokes and was 1-shot over his handicap.

3rd January: 1st Round of the Victorian Junior Masters featuring players from The US, England and all over Australia is in the bag with Karl competing in the 14 years age division and having a solid 81 on the Par 72 layout. Karl plays in today's afternoon field and is hoping for a similar effort today so as to make the Cut. Previous winners and players of this tournament include Adam Scott, Aaron Baddely, Jason Day, Marc Leishman and Michael Sim just to mention a few. I'll have video within a day or so.

1st January: Happy New Year to all of Karl's Friends and Supporters!

It's so hot here Downunder that tomorrow's competiton has been cancelled due to apredicted maximimum temperature of 103 degrees.

January is summer school holiday time in Australia, so Karl has been playing in the member's competitions at his home club every day this past 10 days soas to prepare for the upcoming junior tournament season which gets underway this Tuesday with the Victorian Junior Masters.In the 8 competition rounds he's played since breaking from school before Christmas, Karl's shot between 80 and 86 "off-the-stick" at Southern Golf Club which has an Australian Course Rating of 73 off the normal Men's Tees.

His round of 80 today was achieved whilst playing with 2 of our state's best Amateurs who play off +4 & +5 respectively.A 100% Sand-Save record from 5 bunkers helpedKarl's cause, as did his putting. Karl's only3-putt was on the the final green which resulted from an unfavourable bounce on his approach from 150 yards out which left him with a 60-foot putt.

His steady play has brought his Men's Handicap down to 8.7,becoming his new lowest handicap.

2011

27th December: With a raft of summer holiday tournaments starting next week, Karl's been honing his game by playing in club competitions as much as possible since starting school holidays this past Friday, scoring a consistent 10-13 over in each of those past 4 rounds. That's still left Karl with time for playdates, sleepovers and honing his Ripstick skills, and we've uploaded video of Karl's Ripsticking from yesterday here.

15th December: Karl had a great day playing in the Australian Masters Pro Am yesterday.See the video here.

Mizuno and also the tournament organiser's IMG organised a meeting with fellow Mizuno and IMG player Luke Donald, and Luke also later caught up with Karl on the putting green prior to the Pro Am. Needless to say, Karl was quite chuffed about meeting Luke.

Karl also caught up with and once again challenged Australian Footy legend Sam Newman to a contest, this time on the putting green. Unlike their match back in August, this time around the honours were shared. Sam got to keep his newest Lamborghini and Karl didn't have to hand over the keys to our 1996 Mitsubishi Magna.

For the Pro Am Karl joined Professional Mathew Giles, US Amateur Byron Meth and 13-year-old Australian team-mate Ryan Ruffels in the 4BBB format. Being on the bag for Karl was a joy, as I got to watch amazing golf by our group playing on "The Victoria" course which sits alongside the Royal Melbourne course which was used for the President's Cup and which also has greens which resemble a glass table-top. It also was co-designed by the legendary Alistair McKenzie. McKenzie designed some of the world's best courses including Augusta National, as well as the best of Melbourne's famed "Sandbelt" courses.

With 28 weeks until the 2012 Junior World's, Karl's been focusing on his swing of late, in particular of getting good weight transfer. The results are noticeable, and as we get closer to next July he'll also work on his short game a little more. Having said that though, despite us not being able to even see Karl down in most of the bunkers from the putting surface, Karl got up every time and his Sand Save ratio was awesome.

We have a few photos of Karl with Luke Donald which can be seen on Karl's Photos page here.

Karl was very grateful to both IMG and Mizuno for the opportunity yesterday. Playing in these events gives players like Karl and Ryan enormous opportunities to gain confidence from rubbing shoulders with the world's best and to pick up the odd tip. The course length isn't an issue as the juniors in Australia play from the Men's Tees anyway, but to play on one of the country's best courses, well... Karl's very grateful.

3rd December, 2011. The final round of this season's Junior Pennants was played against Huntingdale Golf Club at Southern Golf Club. Karl came against power-hitting 16-year-old Will Qoro. The match went down to the last hole, but Will's length off the Tee ultimately proved too much for Karl. Index 1 hole at Southern is a 413 Meter (455 Yard) Par 4. Karl & Will played from the back tees into a strong wind and astonishingly, Will got there in 2 shots, leaving us all with open mouths as we struggled to believe what we'd just seen. Karl (on the other hand) needed 4 hits to get there. Will undoubtedly has a bright future in golf, and we were awe-struck at how he played a Tiger-like "Stinger" Fairway wood.

Credit to little Karl for hanging in to the last hole too, as he Drove well, had his short game turned on, and but for having frequently pushed his Fairway Woods out to the right rough could have seen a different result. Karl will fix that this week, as it's only started happening this weekend and won't be hard to fix.

I'll upload video of their match within the day or so. In the meantime, here's a photo of Southern's Junior Pennant's team.

November 24: Karl did 2 radio interviews this morning. The candid interview with Radio New Zealand National's Jim Mora gives some interesting insights into Karl's goals. Click here to listen to that interview.

November 23: Karl played in the Pro Am at the Australian PGA Championships at the Hyatt Regency course in Coolum, Queensland. The weather was as great as it always is in Coolum which provided for a fun day out on the course where Karl competed in the 4BBB format.

Although Karl will have spent just 2 days at the event so as to still get in a few days at school this week, he realised his dream of rubbing shoulders with some of his idols, including warming up on the driving range alongside Bubba Watson, with British Open winner Darren Clarke just a few bays along. Darren proved his heart is as big as people say, spending time to chat with and encourage Karl.

Staying at the resort enabled Karl to also stop and chat with his biggest supporter Greg Norman. He may be a superstar, but Greg always takes the time to encourage others and better still he remembers people, just as he did with Karl as they'd met previously at a press conference in Sydney last year.

Australia's top golfers are a hugely supportive mob and Stuart Appleby, Geoff Ogilvy and Aaron Baddeley all gave their time to chat with and encourage Karl in his journey. All those guys give generously to charities and Stuart Appleby in particular supports his own Stuart Appleby Junior Golf Foundation in Melbourne, where Karl plays and receives enormous support.

Last but not least, every junior golfer's "coolest player" Rickie Fowler bumped into Karl in the resort's village. Upon asking Karl if he was here to watch the golf, Rickie was taken aback when Karl replied that he was actually here to play. Rickie definately is "California Cool", and Karl left mesmerised.

Karl could have met more of the players, but our room had the Nickelodean channel and as we don't have Foxtel at home, Karl spent the remainder of the day watching Sponge Bob Squarepants, swimming in the pool and playing Ping Pong.

November 17: November 23.Presidents Cup week. The Americans are in our town to take on everyone else except for the Europeans. Karl spent the Tuesday and Wednesday practice days getting to watch the players up close and will spend the weekend joining in the excitement of The Presidents Cup.

Karl's also pumped up for his upcoming Pro Am appearancesat both The Australian PGA next week and the following JB Were Australian Masters, so is training with more purpose and hitting the ball great.

November 14: Round 2 of the Club Championships took place with Karl shooting another 87 on a ACR (Course rating) of 74, seeing him finish 3 shots over his handicap. He finished 11th out of a field of 190 Men members in the Overall Club Championships which was played off scratch, and 2nd in the Club's Junior Championships. which was played of handicap. Great effort by Karl, particularly as he again played without a caddy. Playing without a caddy is going to make him very hard to beat in next year's Callaway Junior Worlds, as his age division in played without Caddies, seeing some otherwise good performing players struggle without having a caddy to assist with club selections and other options. Karl actually finished T13th in those championships this year as a 9yo with next year still to play in that 9-10 yearsdivision.When Rory McIlroy played that same 9-10 age division, hefinished 8th as a 10yo. Rickie Fowler finished 59th and 33rd in the 2 years that he competed in that 9-10 years division.

November 13: Round 1 of the club's junior championships was played today, with the final round tomorrow. It was played off the Championship Tees and Pin positions, so with the ACR rated as 74, Karl's target score was 85. He finished with an 87 so he was 3 shots over his handicap for the day. Sloppy double bogey start and finish holes didn't help, but measuring 6,849 yards and not using a caddy, it was a very good effort by the little guy.

This weekend is his club's annual junior (Under 21) championships. Although having next to no chance of winning the Gross event unless a few of Melbourne's finest young players at his club come down with a mystery illness, Karl hopes to contend in the Nett section. It'll be played off the Championship Tees though, so Karl's relatively short length compared to the big boys will be an issue unless he fires up his short game. Good luck Karl.

November 10: Karl was invited for a quick 1-day trip up from Melbourne to Sydney on Wednesday this week to promote the new Xbox Kinect Season Two. Channel 7's early morning Sunrise show did a feature on his visit and that can be viewed here. I leave Karl alone with journalists so that he can feel free to speak in his own words. On this occasion he had told the journalist (Edwina) that he couldn't really turn Pro until he is 18, so I'll need to remind Karl of his promise to finish University (College in the US) before making any decisions like that. There's a lot of childhood and learning to fit in between now and then.

Whilst there, the tournament staff looked after Karl well, so thanks so much for that. He also got a quick look up close at most of the top players including Greg Norman, Tiger, Geoff Ogilvy, Bubba Watson, Nick Watney, Adam Scott, Matt Kuchar and Jason Day. Bubba really is as spontaneous and crazy as he's reputed to be. Karl also caught up with some of the people who have supported him including footy icon Sam Newman.

November 7: Australian Open week. Tiger's back in form, so the golfing world is rapt.The sky above our housewas abuzz with TV helicopters this morning due to Tiger giving a corporate golf clinic at the nearby Capitol Golf Club, a mere 2 miles away in readiness for his upcoming Australian Open and Presidents Cup appearances.

Karl played Junior Pennants yesterday and had a lesson in the importance of course management and Matchplay strategy, going down 4 & 2 to his 15-year-old opponent. Both players played exceptional golf and his opponent fully deserved the Win, but some of the lessons which Karl hopefully learnt were;

• Make your opponent Win a hole, don't give it up on a hole until his ball is in the hole.
• Bogey can still halve a hole sometimes. Aiming to Halve a holeafter a poor Tee Shot is smarter than trying a high-risk miracle shot in an effort to still win the hole.
• Remember that Pennants golf is a team game and that your own result can be the difference between our team winning and losing.
• Never leave a Putt for a Halve short of the hole.
• Hide your disppointment after a poor shot. Matchplay is all in the mind.
• It's a good idea to use a Caddie.

Karl's only 10-years-old, so despite having a Men's handicap of just 9.5, his decision-making is lacking sometimes. That will improve with age, as his opponents are oftentwice his size andDriving 80 yards further than him, and yet Karl was the longest Driver witin his age group at the World Championships this year.

November 6th:Karl doesn't avoid any particular junior competitions or courses, or fail to hand in bad cards in an effort to protect his handicap. We all know it goes on, but that's just not Karl's style. Saturday was the Monthly Medal at Southern which Karl could have chosen not to play if he wanted to protect his handicap because the round was played off it's full 6263 meters ( 6849 yards) Championship Tees with the Flags placed in the championship positions, making the course a formidable challenge for scratch players, let alone Karl. As a comparison, the Presidents Cup course just 5 minutes from our course will be played off 6,397 meters. He needed 3 shots to get to the Par 4's and 4 shots to reach the Par 5's from the back Tees, so although not a perfect round, Karl actually did quite well for the day to shoot a 91. If every facet of his game had been 100%, an 85 would have been his best possible score, but Putts lipped out instead of falling in. That's golf!

October 30: The 2012 Junior Pennants gets under way in extremely wet & windy conditions with Karl registering a 4 & 3 Win at the magnificent Metropolitan Golf Club, one of Australia's Top-10 courses and rated as having amongst the best fairways in the world.

Karl hadn't played any competitive golf for over a month and it showed, with him starting off badly and losing the opening 2 holes to his 15yo opponent who was off a 4 handicap to Karl's 10. However, after that shakey start Karl fought back strongly with solid Driving and Fairway woods and an outstanding short game that saw him getting up & down from unlikely situations.

The windy conditions probably favoured Karl, as although Karl's drives were 100 yards shorter than his opponent's, Karl's shorter length meant that he was less subject to being affected by the strong wind. Karl's strategy was to accept that he'd get beaten up on the holes where his opponent stayed on the fairway, but that if he took advantage of the occasions where his opponent did leave the fairway, that his short game would take care of the rest.

October 25:The "R & A" and the USGA move with the times.

The revised Rules of Golf which come into affect in 2012 bring in a raft of sensible changes, including;

• The player not being penalised when their ball moves at address
• Amateurs being allowed to receive greater assisstance from outside sources, including assisstance withcertain living expenses for players who's golf would otherwise be disadvantaged

This 2nd point directly affects kids like Karl, as his golf has been greatly affected by his socio- economic situation. Potential Supporters have been reticent in providing support due to being worried at jeapordizing Karl's Amateur status, so this change will open doors to players who weren't necessarily" born with a sliver spoon in their mouth" and may possibly see golf's next Superstar come from a most unlikely source.

October 17: It's been hard for Karl to get motivated since returning from the high of winning the world championships in The US due to the total absence of any 18-hole competitions against kids his age. Australian junior golf does a stellar job in providing opportunities both for kids to get started in golf and also in the older 18-hole tournaments where there are age divisions for Under 14, Under 16, etc. However, there's a gap that currently exists between the two formats where talented kids in the 8-12 years range who have excelled at the starting level have limited opportunities to push their games to any significant level. There are only a few kids that fall into this category, but Australia is falling behind our neighbouring countries in terms of performance in the youngest age divisions. The LPGA is now seeing Asian golfers dominate ladies golf and this dominance can be traced back to the support of junior golf right from the younger age divisions. With the growth of golf in Asia, the traditional golf powerhouses including The USA and Europe need to take a good look at how the Asian golf associations are recognizing that tomorrow's Major Champions are already playing golf at an early age, just as Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler, Phil Mickelson, Lorena Ochoa and Yani Tseng did.

Anyway, back to Karl. He's been starting to get back into practice this past few weeks, focusing on playing 9-holes every couple of days with me in the cool of the evening and coupling that with work on his wedges, in particular his Lob Wedge.With our club's driving range being in a poor state, Karl has been hitting off the matts at a local driving range twice a week to try to keep his long game at a manageable level.

Right now though he's having 5 days off with having spent this past weekend having a sleepover and the first part of this week participating in his first school camp. Karl's been excited about his first school camp and has had his bag packed for the past week in anticipation. From Thursday it'll be back to business as he starts to build back up to a normal practice routine ahead of the Junior Pennants season commencing at month's end, as well as the Stuart Appleby Signature Tournament next month where he'll compete in the 12 & Under division. It's the only 18-hole tournament for the year where Karl can compete in such a young age division, with most tournaments having 14 & under as the youngest age division.

October 1st: Been taking it easy both tournament and practice-wise since we got back to Australia in early August so that Karl can recharge his batteries before the Junior Pennants season starts in late October, spending more time kicking the football and at the cricket nets than playing golf. Melbourne had the wettest September in over 50 years, so Karl has spent way too much time indoors on the X-Box. We're looking forward to less wind & rain for the 2nd week of school holidays so we can get some fishing in and play a few 9-hole competitions and a Pitch'n'Putt tournament in these next 10 days before school goes back.

August 18: Karl appears on Ch 9's "Footy Show". The show's Sam Newman had challenged Karl to a round of golf the previous day, and is was hilarious.

August 16: Karl appears on the Front Page of Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper promoting the JB Were Australian Masters. Full story on this page.

In addition to being his 10th Birthday today, Karl appears on Ch 7's "today Tonight" evening current affairs TV show. Click here to view.

August 15: Management group and owners of the Australian Masters tournament IMG announce that Karl is the #1 Ticket holder for the upcoming 2011 JB Were Australian Masters. See Press.

August 12:Our returnback from Pinehurst took a couple of days, so I apologise for being out of contact for that period of time as I didn't have access to internet.Wehadthe 9-hour drive from Pinehurst to Florida including an overnight in Jacksonville, then the 4 1/2 flight to Los Angelesfollowed by an 8-hour layover, finishing with a 14 1/2 hour flight to Melbourne.Little Karl wasexhausted andslept for 12-hours last night. He starts school again today though, as he needs to catch up after missing 2 weeks.

Once again, thanks to the members at Southern Golf Club for supporting Karl's campaign. So many of the thousands who have viewed Karl's stories have applauded Karl's achievements, and it's great to see that most everyone realises that he is still just a 9-year-old who also plays other team sports and still has sleepovers with his mates but who also just happens to be good at golf. However, onesource had suggested that Karl is a spoilt little rich kid who gets all the breaks. That couldn't be further from the truth as he actually comes from a disadvantaged sole parent background and lives in government emergency housing whilst we await a permanent subsidised rental. We live in hope that our 1996 Magna doesn't break down each time we drive it. It was this financial circumstance that saw him miss out on defending that world title last year, so getting the backing for him to belatedly defend that title this year and see him do it was remarkable and shows how generousand non-judgmental that 99% of Melbourne sports fans are.

August 9: We've just driven 7 hours from Pinehurst down to Jacksonville, Florida so as to catch our flight from Orlando to LAXto Melbourneand will arrive into Melbourne at 7.55am on the 11th (that's Thursday, right?).

August 6 6pm:

"Karl Vilips of Australia capped off a remarkable comeback to claim the Boys 9 division in exciting fashion on Pinehurst No. 8. Vilips began the day three strokes behind the lead, but did all in his power to come out on top, carding a final-round 5-under-par 67 to come out on top by a single stroke. He recorded a birdie on No. 18 to edge David Hu of Canada by the slimmest of margins. Hu did all he could to catch Vilips, as he birdied Nos. 17 and 18, but still came up one stroke shy at 5-under-par 211."

As it now stands after 2 rounds, Karl is sitting outright 3rd, 3 shots behind the leader and with 4 shots separating himself and 4th. The winner after the final round (which should hopefully get finished this evening)will mostlikely come from one of theleading bunch of3 players, so Karl is in with a real good shot at his 2nd title here. We need today's final round to be completed, otherwise the positions after Round 2 will be final.

August 5: Weather saw the 2nd roundremain incompletefor the final 5 groups, with Karl sitting at 2-under for the round with a 9' par putt remaining on the 16th Green when the siren sounded to halt play for the final time at 8pm. Karl played pure golf to be 3-under for the first 7 1/2 holes before play was halted due to approaching thunderstorms. It bucketed down for a few hours before play was able to recommence, but it became hard work for the players thereafter. Karl bogeyed the 11th and answered immediately with a tap-in Birdie 3 on the following hole. Karl's been duck-hooking his Fairway Woods this pastfortnight and did so again whilst "playing safe" with a 5-wood on the 14th today off the Tee. Those 2 fairway woods have cost Karl at least 5 shots this tournament as every shot he's played with them have gone badly left. I'd assumed that it was Karl causing the problem so had him working to counteract it, but closer inspection showed that both his 3 & 5 R9 fairway woods have been altered to a "draw" setting. They'd always been set to Neutral for the past year since he's had them, so heaven knows how, why or when they were altered. As his Caddie and father I should havelooked more into this issueprior to now, so I feel responsible for Karl's left misses this past fortnight. To be sitting where he is in the tournament right now with the disadvantage he's unknowingly had with those woods is testament to how gutsy the little fella is.

Failing light and heavy rain set in as Karl putted for Birdie again on the 16th, but with himbattling toread the green speed due to the lack of light, he uncharacteristically ran his putt 9' past the hole. The Horn sounded as that Birdie putt left his putter, leaving Karl to (hopefully)make that putt and complete the final 2 holes of his 2nd round at 7am in the morning before returning at 1.10pm for the 3rd & final round.

It appears that Karl is 2-shots off the lead and sitting either 2nd or 3rd as it stands right now.

August 4: The completion of Round 1 sees Karl shooting a 1-over par 73 and sitting 2-shots behind the leaders. Karl's roundcontained a combination oflong driving that was complimented by numerous short irons that peppered the flagsitck and netted him2 Birdies on the front 9 to go to the turn 1-under the card. The 100 degree heat tested the player's concentration including Karl's. The par 5 11th hole saw his round take a hiccup with a triple bogey 8. True to form, Karl came back with 2 further Birdies and a bogey after that to finish what was an otherwise superb display of shot-making and putting.

Considering that uncharacteristic 8, Karl could well go a few shots lower in tomorrow's round. He Tees of after lunchwith a 40% chance of thunderstorms. The Leaderboard can be seenhere.

August1: With Pinehurst # 8 unavailable for play today, Karl played the host course for the his age division for next year, the Little River Golf Club. The yardage was 400 yards longer than what he'll play at Pinehurst #8, yet he still managed a 1-under round of 71 that saw him reach almost every green in regulation. His new Driver is pummeling the ball longer than he's ever hit,resulting in less club coming into the green. He had 4 Birdies today and left so many tantalisingly closethat shavedthe cup, so hopefully those Birdie putts are saving themselves for the Worlds starting this Thursday.

July 26 & 27th: Karl competed in a local 2-day 36-hole junior event at the Donald Ross designed Mid-Pines Golf Course in Pinehurst held by the Tin Whistles First Tee Sandhills. Karl's division was 13 years & under and caddy-free, played off 5454 Yards the 1st Round and 4921 Yards the 2nd round. Karl shot rounds of 79 & 75 to finish 2 strokes behind 12yo winner Drew Viney-Sinsley and a shot ahead of 10yo local and world #7 Chris Eagle Kim. Scores here.

July 19: Karl finishes Tied 5th at the FCG World Championships at PGA West in California.

July 14:Karl finishes Tied 13th at the Callaway Junior World Championships.

June 28: Karl appears in the upcoming July edition of the Golf Victoria Magazine.

June 23: Karl joins hostsMichael Christian and Tony Jones live in the studio at Melbourne's specialty sports radio station, Radio Sports National.

June 16: Karl appears in Australian Golf Digest

May 27: Golf Victoria feature Karl'sin theirOnline Newsand Full Story here.

May 17: Golf Australia feature Karl in their Online magazine under Latest News. Click here to view the article. May 14: Karl appears in Melbourne's "The Age" newspaper. Click here to view.

May 12: Karl named "Player of the Month" by Stuart Appleby Junior Golf for the month of April.

April 30. Shoots a 9-over 81 in the members Saturday competition at Southern Golf Club to back up his record round from the previous week.

April 25. New Personal Best with a round of 80 to finishRunner-up (after c/b)at Southern olf Club's ANZAC Day competition. 8-over becomes Karl's best round to date on a full Par 72 course in competition. Unfortunately the greens had just been cored, so Karl actually missed a few short putts which he'd usually make.

April 21. Gross Winner, Under 10 division of the April Holidays round of the Victorian Under 16 Pitch'n'Putt Championships. Misses out on the overall win by 1 shot.

April 19. Gross Winner of the Croydon Golf Club's Under-16 years Pump Shootout on a modified 9-hole stroke event with a brilliant even Par 36.

April 15. Runner-up, Kilmore Memorial Junior Open Under 14's Gross with an 84 on the Par 70 course.

April 13. Gross Winner, Amstel Golf Club's Pump Shootout on a modified 9-hole stroke with a score of 39.

April 12, 2011.Runner-up (after c/b) in the "B" Handicap divisionat the 2011 Huntingale Junior Open with an 87 on the Par 72 for 35 Stableford Points. Click here for results and here for full scores.

April 11, 2011. Gross Winner ofthe 10 & Under section of the Stuart Appleby Golf Foundation's Rookie Event at Oakleigh Golf Course.

February 11, 2011. Karl wraps up his first season of Junior Interclub Pennants with7wins and 1 loss. His youngest opponent was 12 years old and his oldest was 17 years of age.

January 21:Karl equals his PB, shooting a 9-over 81 at his home course whilst playing with hisSponsors and a Touring Professional from the Mens Tees. Sanctuary Cove Golf Course measures 7105 yards from the Men's Tees.

2010

December 24 - January 11. No golf for Karl ashis Dad is hospitalised with Vertigo over Christmas and whilstall tournaments are cancelled due to Queensland'stragic floods.

December 15: 9 Year old Karl misses the cut of Australia's 2010 "Greg Norman Junior Classic" in the 13 Years & Under division by a single stroke with rounds of 88, 88 & 83 off the Mens Competition Tees at the Coolangatta Tweed Heads Golf Club. For full results, click herePreviouscompetitors of this event include Adam Scott, Geoff Ogilvy, Jason Day, Michael Sim, Karrie Webb,& Katherine Hull. New Handicap: 14.4.

November 28: With the Junior Pennants season just a week away and theyear's biggest junior tournaments the following week, Karl is peaking his game after a month of taking things pretty easy (practise-wise). ClickHERE to view some hot shots from thatdays practice round.

November 22: Ch 10's "The Pro Shop" features a story on Karl.The show's crewwere actually up on the Gold Coast in September doing a story on courses up here when we met the crew on the 1st Tee atKarl's home club.

November 14: Karl appeared on Ch 9 's "Weekend Today" Masters Special where Airlie Walsh interviewed him. Clickhere for the link.

November 10: Karl met his idol Tiger Woods down at the Australian Masters in Melbourne for a very private one-on-one where they just "hung out" for a short while.Tiger was incredibly gracious with his time and treatedKarl as "one of the guy's". A big thank you to those who made it happen for the little fella.

October 28: Karl's takin' things easy for the next few weeks as the Queensland junior season grinds to a halt until the inter-club Pennants series starts later next month.

October 17: Winner, 2010 Ian Baker-Finch/AustraliaZoo Classic, Queensland, Australia. Under 10 Years Gross Winner. Karl's 88 was also the best Gross score in the Under 12's.

September 29:Karl was invited to play in the Wednesday Men's Comp at Surfers Paradise Golf Club and came in with 38 Stableford points Birdieing the Par 4 First hole got him off to great 4-point head start. His Gross score of 85 sees his Handicap drop to 14.6.

September 28: Winner. Karl shoots 39 Gross in Australia's PGA run Pump Golf Shootout held on the FrontNine of the Redland Bay Golf Club's 2909 Meter (3181 Yards) Par 36 layout. Hisscorecard included four successive "3's" on it.With his win hequalified to get into a draw for the national grand prize.

September 20: Winner. Karl shoots 83 on the Par 70South Course at Nudgee Golf Club to win the 13 Years & Under Grossof the"Jack Downs Junior Classic". Measuring 5667 Meters (6197 Yards), and played in persistent rain. The course has numerous water hazards that claimed 2 of Karl's balls. New Handicap TBA.

September 12: Karl's continued strong performances see his Men's Handicap drop to a new low of 15.8. He's struggling a little with consistency with playing against the 13 years & Under players, but is looking for to next year's introduction of an 11 & Under age group here in Queensland.

August 9: Winner. Karl wins the B-Grade Handicap Division of the Toogoolawah Junior Open. Shoots 81 Gross to win the 14-23 Handicap division on the Par 71, 6,327 Yard layout.

August 3:Karl has had to withdraw from this year's World Championships due to insufficient funding. We wish the kids over at Pinehurst all the best and look forward to catching up with you all at next year's championships.

July 18: Karl played in the Queensland Amateur Pitch'n'Putt Championships,finishing Runner-upin the Under 13 Gross. The tournament consisted of 18-holesper dayplayed over 2 days.The players were allowed only 3 clubs on holes varying from 30-70 meters in length, so it was a great test of the player's short games.

July 15: Karl appeared on Channel 9's Gold Coast News.

July 10: Karlhas reluctantly withdrawn from theCallaway JuniorWorld Championships due to start on July 13 due to a funding shortfall, but is still hopeful of being able todefend his US Kids World Championships title in 2 week's time. Anyone able to assist can contacthis Dad at pauls@westnet.com.auor on 0410646708.

July 1: Karl's Men's Handicap drops to a new personal best of 16.8 after 2solid rounds from the Men's Teesat the Titleist Winter Classic.

June 3: Karlwas invited to joinGreg Norman at a Press Conference for the upcoming Australian Open. The Shark had some words of wisdom regarding Karl's future in the game in an interview with Ch 10's Sports Tonightand Channel 9.

May 21: Karl appeared live On Air with Australia's#1radio Talkback Host Alan Jones.

May 11.Karl spoke via telephone withMelbourne talkback radio Host Steve Price and Jason Ackermanis.

May 8: Video Story on Karl in Sydney'sThe Daily Telegraph

April 27: Karl be appeared onChannel 9 news

April 26: Channel 9 News"Teaser" for the story on Karl

April 16: Karl's Australian Men's Handicap reduced to 17.2

April 11,2010: Karlappeared live in the studio ofChannel 9's Wide World of Sports on the Sunday morning of The 2010Masters golf tournament, April 11.

March 2010:Coaching. Aside from attending Sunday morning kid's golf clinics when he first started playing, Karl's always been coachedby his Dad. It's now about time that Karl hadsome Professional coaching here in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs. If you're a teaching pro who is passionate about junior golf and am enthusuiastic about helping Karl, we'd love to hear from you.

Feb 2010: Runner-Up (after playoff), 2010 Callaway FCG World Championships. We went toSan Diego in the USA in Februaryfor the 2010 Callaway FCG World Championships.

Following shooting a 3 over par on Day 1,Karlstarted the final round 3 strokes behind the leader, dual world champion Alexander Pak and a shot behind former world champ Brett Sodetz on Sunday.With some accurate driving and very good putting, Karlmanaged to bridge that gap with a bogey free round consisting of 3 birdies that also proved to be the tournament's lowest round.

After finishing Tiew for 1st after the qualifying rounds, they played in thelongest Playoff in the history of Future Champions Golf against Alexander Pak, wherebyKarl eventually got beaten by a birdie to his Par. There's bothofficial video from the final day available at the FCG World Championships official YouTube pagewhere Karl is featured 3 times. In case you can't recognise him without shorts on, he is wearing theblack trousers and Green Titleist cap. There's alsopersonal video shot by one of the parents showing Karl playing a few shots on the final round.

It was a great effort by Karl, as the winner will be in the next age group up for the mid-year tour, leaving Karl asone of thefavourites to contend for the Callaway Junior Worlds and to defend his US Kids World title in August.

You can view photos of Karl playing at that event at his Photobucket album.