They call him “Koala Karl” in the US — the Aussie golf sensation who is on track to become one of the world’s top players.

But in his home State of WA, sports fans might not realise just how good 17-year-old Karl Vilips is.

Karl was featured in The West Australian aged six, when his single father was hoping a generous reader could chip in to get him from Mandurah to the US for a tournament.

The plan worked and Karl impressed in the US despite his sub-standard equipment.

By age 12, he was a scratch golfer living in the US on a golf scholarship with four children’s world titles to his name.

At 15, he became the joint youngest player to win the Southern Amateur, a major open-age tournament in the US. He shares that honour with the legendary Bobby Jones.

His trajectory has barely deviated since then.

This year the boy from humble beginnings who grew up idolising Tiger Woods reached number one in the American Junior Golf Association rankings — the world’s premier junior golf organisation.

His AJGA ranking has slipped to fourth but he has risen to 46th in the men’s amateur world rankings.

And this month he won gold at the Youth Olympics in Argentina, beating his friend and rival Akshay Bhatia in a thrilling final round.

In Perth to play the WA Open, Karl said he relished the opportunity to represent Australia and he counts the gold medal among his crowning achievements.

“It means a lot, being able to do that for Australia and against such an elite field,” Karl said.

“It is just so cool having everyone there from all of these other countries and knowing they’re the best in the world at their sport.

“You could be the greatest high jumper or golfer and then you go into a village with that many athletes and you’re just another person.”

He has accepted a scholarship to join Stanford University in 2020.

“It feels like I’m living the life over there,” Karl said.

“It’s really worked out with all the hours I’ve put in.”

The next big competition for Karl will be the Rolex Tournament of Champions in Florida next month.

He is aiming to return to Australia for the Junior Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in December next year.

“Koala Karl” has had a challenging journey to the top of the junior golf world, leaving WA at the age of seven and relocating to the Eastern States for family reasons.

To gain exposure, his father started posting videos on YouTube 10 years ago. Karl now has 60,000 followers between his YouTube and Instagram accounts.

He does not have the affluent background shared by many young golfers in the US, but he said the adversity had made the successes even sweeter.

“It’s been tough for me to get into the events but it definitely makes me feel a little bit better about myself knowing I’ve been able to come from not much,” he said.

“You have to really practice as much as you can. It sucks sometimes and I’ve had plenty of bad tournaments which have really made me feel down.

“You just have to keep grinding through those and ‘embrace the suck’ is what I like to say.

“You’ll probably want to quit practising sometimes but you just have to keep doing it and doing it. You have to really dedicate yourself.”