"I was probably half his height" – Karl Vilips reflects on childhood Rickie Fowler encounter after throwback photo goes viral
Karl Vilips recalled his childhood meeting with six-time PGA Tour winner Rickie Fowler at his recent outing at the 2025 RBC Heritage. In this week's PGA Tour event, Vilips and Fowler played in the same group in the first two rounds.
Ahead of the second round, a picture from 2012 of Vilips and Fowler went viral on the internet. It was from the time when Fowler was playing on the Tour while Vilips was just a 10-year-old boy.
Now, over a decade later, Karl Vilips and Rickie Fowler finally paired up to play together, and in a post-round press conference of the 2025 RBC Heritage on April 18, the Australian golfer candidly reflected on his first meeting with Fowler and hilariously talked about their height difference when he first met the American back in 2012.
Vilips said (via ASAP Sports):
"He was definitely one of my favorites. 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."
In the signature PGA Tour event, Karl Vilips had an amazing outing in the second round. He played a round of 65 to jump 38 spots on the leaderboard, which helped him to settle in the T13 position.
Meanwhile, Rickie Fowler played a round of 67 to settle in the T41 place. Meanwhile, Justin Thomas took the lead in the game after two rounds at 12-under.
Karl Vilips opens up about his performance at the RBC Heritage 2025
In the second round of the 2025 RBC Heritage, held on Friday, April 18, Karl Vilips started the campaign on the tenth hole. He made two birdies and an eagle on the front nine and then two birdies on the back nine for a round of 6-under 65.
He struggled in the opening round of the PGA Tour event when he carded 71, but his second round was pretty impressive. In the post-round press conference on Friday, Karl Vilips talked about his performance in the tournament and said (via ASAP Sports):
"I would consider my irons my strength, and today it kind of showed out, especially on the par-3s out here, which I think are the teeth of the course. As long as I can get it in play, I feel like I can score because I'm putting well, and I've got that mini driver in play, which has been awesome for me this week."
Meanwhile, the third round of the RBC Heritage is scheduled for Saturday, April 19. Players will start the game at 7:50 am ET with Joe Highsmith taking the first shot of the day with Nick Dunlap.
For the third round, Karl Vilips will tee off in a group with Ryan Gerard, and they will start the game at 1:00 pm ET on the first tee hole. Meanwhile, Rickie Fowler will play in a group with Harris English, and they will tee off at 10:30 am ET.