{"id":17762,"date":"2023-04-24T10:48:38","date_gmt":"2023-04-24T10:48:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/chevron-championship-lilia-vu-channels-memory-of-late-grandfather-to-clinch-first-major-title\/"},"modified":"2023-04-24T10:48:38","modified_gmt":"2023-04-24T10:48:38","slug":"chevron-championship-lilia-vu-channels-memory-of-late-grandfather-to-clinch-first-major-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=17762","title":{"rendered":"Chevron Championship: Lilia Vu channels memory of late Grandfather to clinch first major title"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n Lilia Vu triumphed at the Chevron Championship on Sunday, besting American compatriot Angel Yin in a playoff to seal the first major of her career in The Woodlands, Texas.\n <\/p>\n
\n Vu had begun the final round four shots adrift of co-leader Yin but rallied with five birdies \u2013 including two to close \u2013 to tie the world No. 172 at 10-under and force a playoff. On the first replay of the 18th hole, the 25-year-old curled home a winding birdie putt to clinch victory after Yin\u2019s second shot had splashed into the water.\n <\/p>\n
\n Shortly after, it was Vu\u2019s turn to find the water. Leaping into Poppie\u2019s Pond had been a long-running tradition for champions at Mission Hills in California, host of the major from its inception until its relocation to Carlton Woods for 2023.\n <\/p>\n
\n Vu wasted no time in renewing the ritual, diving into the lake beside the 18th green to toast her second LPGA Tour victory and a winner\u2019s check of $765,000, the largest of her career. Having almost walked away from the sport following early struggles as a pro, it crowned a cathartic victory for the world No. 12.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cEverything happens for a reason,\u201d Vu told reporters.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cAll the bad things, everything I\u2019ve ever struggled through, family-wise, internally, I think myself as the biggest obstacle, I had a pretty tough, not easy past two days.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI was definitely my own enemy, and I don\u2019t know how I pulled this out. I\u2019m just really happy and proud of Cole [caddie] and I for doing this.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Despite a decorated amateur career, Vu endured a grueling start to life on the LPGA Tour, making the cut just once in her first nine starts after turning professional in early 2019.\n <\/p>\n
\n She would not play another LPGA event until 2022, by which point she had lost a formative figure in her life. Vu\u2019s grandfather, who had fled his native Vietnam with her mother, had died in the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic.\n <\/p>\n
\n Amid bubbling frustrations during a wet and windy final round, it was the memory of her grandfather that kept Vu grounded.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI was just in such a bad place with my golf game. Everything was life or death,\u201d Vu said. \u201cI just saw everybody that I\u2019ve competed with being successful, and I just compared myself all the time.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cBut now I know that everybody\u2019s journey is different, and everything happens for a reason \u2026 Even today, I was getting really upset on the course, and I just had to remind me, like, \u2018Grandpa is with you, and he\u2019d be really disappointed if you were getting upset like this and that you didn\u2019t get your act together.\u2019\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI think he\u2019d say that all my struggles were worth it,\u201d she added.\n <\/p>\n
\n Runner-up Yin was upbeat despite agonizingly missing out on a first career major. The 24-year-old, runner-up at the US Open in 2019, had looked poised for victory before back-to-back birdies at the 16th and 17th holes opened the door for Vu.\n <\/p>\n
\n A pressure birdie at the final hole to force the playoff signaled a strong response, but Yin\u2019s fightback was ultimately sunk by her subsequent shot into the water.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI didn\u2019t really feel much nerves at all this week, even coming into this stretch,\u201d Yin told reporters.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cMy caddie was telling me to calm down, but other than that, I really just wasn\u2019t really feeling much. I\u2019m just really mellow. That\u2019s why this lack of emotion, and I\u2019m not crying.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI\u2019m just really happy with who I am, where I am and what I\u2019m doing right now \u2026 If I can talk about how much I appreciate life right now, I\u2019ll get emotional, not over this,\u201d she added.\n <\/p>\n
\n World No. 2 Nelly Korda finished one stroke short of making the playoff in third, with Thailand\u2019s Atthaya Thitikul headlining the group of five players that finished tied for fourth at eight-under par.\n <\/p>\n
\n Meanwhile, Jennifer Kupcho endured a grim attempt to defend her title, shooting six-over par to miss the cut and finish tied for 108th.\n <\/p>\n
\n The women\u2019s golf major calendar continues with the US Open at Pebble Beach in California on June 6.\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
![\"Vu](\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/230424102020-03-lilia-vu-chevron-championship.jpg?c=16x9&q=h_720,w_1280,c_fill\"){kind=icon}
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Vu](\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/230424102157-05-lilia-vu-chevron-championship.jpg?c=16x9&q=h_720,w_1280,c_fill\"){kind=icon}
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Yin](\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/230424101831-01-lilia-vu-chevron-championship.jpg?c=16x9&q=h_720,w_1280,c_fill\"){kind=icon}
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n