Outside Tiger Woods, the only other player to wear Sunday red on the golf course is PGA Tour Rookie Carl Bilips.
Bilips, a native of Australia, attended and performed at Stanford, just like Woods did in the 1990s. Having the same Almamata helped Bilips land a sponsorship deal for this landmark. Woods switched to Taylor, made in 2017, after Nike stopped making golf clubs. He also won the Augusta National in 2019 using Taylormade Clubs.
“I'm very close [the TaylorMade] The men explained when asked about the origins of his Sunday Red Contract.
“They have helped me for a long time. Then last summer, I started playing well at Corn Ferry, and we decided to make it happen, and I'm very fortunate to be chosen by the goats themselves.”
After graduating from Stanford last year, Vilips got off to the rooton with the Korn Ferry tour. He won the Utah Championship and finished runner-up in the NV5 Invitational. His other three top 20 finishes in 2024 helped him secure his status on the 2025 PGA Tour.
“It was definitely unexpected at first,” Bilips added.
“But when I got the phone, I was looking forward to representing Tiger and Sunday Red. It's really cool because I'm the first one.”
Vilips' first memory came when he won the US Open with Torrey Pines in 2008. He met him in Australia. He does so sporadically, but he stays in touch with him.
So far, in 2025, Vilips has made two starts. Last week he barely opened a cut in Mexico, and did so with a 3-under number. He eventually tied for the 72nd after Saturday's 4-over 76 kept him at bay.
He played much better this week. The Vilips were 7 under the championship, shooting a 4 under 67 on Friday, and easily booking Saturday's tee time. He doesn't need to emphasize making this weekend, unlike last Friday in Mexico.
“I came out of the strong gate,” Bilips said of Friday's second round.
“I really flipped the ball over the front and made some putts. I found the finish line a bit by chance, but still felt like I was swinging well towards the end of the round. You'll eventually find water here. It's a bit sour to finish the round like that, but I'm in a good place for the weekend.”
Bilips found the water to the left of the sixth fairway, the 15th hole of the day. His tee shot on the par-4 day 9 again landed in the penalty area, but at least he retrieved the bogey. He was 10 under at one point, but those pulled tee shots cost him three strokes. At least he will make a weekend, and now he has the opportunity to post the best finish of his PGA Tour career.
Jack Mirco is a golf staff writer who plays SB Nation. Follow him with x @jack_milko.
