PGA Tour rookie reveals receiving SURPRISING call from Tiger Woods following maiden victory

PGA Tour rookie Karl Vilips received a surprising call from Tiger Woods after he clinched his maiden victory at the Puerto Rico Open.

PGA Tour rookie reveals receiving SURPRISING call from Tiger Woods following maiden victory

Tiger Woods (Image via Imago)

While Tiger Woods may not be playing regularly as many would have hoped before, he still keeps up with what is going on at the moment. On Sunday, after PGA Tour rookie Karl Vilips earned his maiden tour victory at the Puerto Rico Open, he got a surprising call from Woods. The hilarious part in this is that he ignored the texts and calls as they had come from an unknown number.

Vilips is one of the Sun Day Red ambassadors. This clothing brand of Woods came into existence in 2024 after the 15-time major champion ended a 27-year partnership with Nike.

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The Puerto Rico Open was the first alternate event of the 2025 season. While some big stars battled it out at the Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando, Florida at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, some fought hard in this event.

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Vilips, the 23-year-old golfer, has made huge waves across the world of golf in recent times. In just his fourth start on the tour, the Australian international picked up his 1st PGA Tour title. In the final round, he fired a score of 8-under 64 to finish 3 shots ahead of runner-up Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen.

Following his win, the rookie got a call from an unknown number. It was Woods who was calling him to congratulate him for his win. However, he did not know that and completely ignored it. He later realized that it was his Sun Day Red boss through a voicemail.

Yeah, it was tough because I got on my phone after the round and I was just scrolling, like who was texting me? I think I got one from a random number that called me as well. Then there was a voicemail saying it’s Tiger and I couldn’t like process it in the moment, I was just trying to… I’ll get back to that later. That’s pretty cool

Karl Vilips told the reporters after his win

With his triumph, Vilips has secured a place among the field for the upcoming The Players Championship. He will be teeing off in a huge field of 144 players. The same though cannot be said about Tiger Woods as he will miss the event once again.

Tiger Woods to miss The Players Championship after skipping the Arnold Palmer Invitational

After skipping the 2025 Arnold Palmer Invitational, there was some hope that Tiger Woods may tee off at The Players Championship. Even the tournament director had spoken about how much they would love to have him back. However, that is not going to be the case as Woods has once again not committed to The Players Championship.

Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods (Image via Imago)

The reason for this is a personal one. The demise of his mother, Kultida Woods, has left him heartbroken. Since her passing, Woods has barely touched the golf clubs and practiced.

This is the third time I’ve touched a club since my mom passed, so I haven’t really gotten into it. My heart is really not into practicing right now. I’ve had so many other things to do with the Tour and trying to do other things. Once I start probably feeling a little bit better and start getting into it, I’ll start looking at the schedule.

Tiger Woods told the media after the TGL match on Tuesday

Woods was originally scheduled to take part in the Genesis Invitational, which was shifted to the Torrey Pines course. However, after Kultida Woods’ death, he withdrew from the event. As the tournament host, he did arrive on the final day of the event and revealed his plans of playing in some bigger events.

With his absence from these two PGA Tour events, there are some who are now having doubts about his participation in the Masters Tournament. The 5-time Masters champion did play in the event last year and made a record-breaking cut. In the end, he finished bottom of the standings, though with scores of 82 and 77 over the weekend.