Vilips and Smylie PGA Championship debutantes
Elvis Smylie – plays first US Major – image Australian Golf Media
The field for the 2025 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, North Carolina, has been finalised with two Australians getting the chance to play the event for the first occasion when it gets underway on Thursday 15th May.
Elvis Smylie and Karl Vilips have played their way into the field courtesy of Smylie’s special invitation category due to his success on the PGA Tour of Australasia’s Order of Merit allowing him play his second major championship following a start at last year’s Open Championship while Vilips’ recent breakthrough PGA Tour win in Puerto Rico sees him play his second major following a start at the 2023 US Open.
Smylie has put together a couple of solid finishes in events on the DP World Tour in recent weeks while Vilips has struggled since his win in Puerto Rico in March, missing three of four cuts in that time.
For both players, however, the start gives them the opportunity to showcase their considerable talents against one of the strongest fields in the game, and, for Smylie, a chance to play a PGA Tour event in the US for the first time.
Smylie and Vilips will join fellow Australians (in world ranking order) Min Woo Lee, Jason Day, Adam Scott, Cam Davis and Cam Smith, Day having won this event in 2015, not long before attaining the world number one position.
