Lilia Vu beat Angel Yin in a playoff to lift her first major title at Chevron Championship in Texas
We often read about amateur or college golf stars and how they are destined for sure shot success at the pro level. However very often this is not the case and such is the story of American Lilia Vu who was US college “Player of the Year” when she graduated from UCLA in 2018 and ranked no 1 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.
After Vu turned pro in January 2019, success proved elusive. She missed the cut in eight of her first nine events on the LPGA’s 2nd rung Symetra Tour (now the Epson Tour), earning a grand total of $3830. Things were so tough that Vu,who is self-critical at the best of times, considered giving up the game altogether. But encouraged by her family, Vu persevered. She broke through with three wins on the Epson Tour in 2021 and then cemented her resurgence with her first LPGA Tour win at the Honda LPGA Thailand earlier this year.
Finally she won the first women’s major title of 2023 with birdies on her final two holes and the first playoff hole over another young American, Angel Yin. Yin had shared the 54-hole lead with Allison Corpuz at 10-under, while Vu was four shots back at 6-under. Vu closed with a 4-under 68 while Yin could only manage an even-par round of 72. Meanwhile Corpuz struggled from the start and faded with a 2-over 74.
For the win!
Lilia Vu birdies the first playoff hole to win the 2023 Chevron Championship! pic.twitter.com/bn0iPR0VLe
— LPGA (@LPGA) April 23, 2023
When you’re in the perfect spot for Lilia Vu’s jump at the @Chevron_Golf pic.twitter.com/5tg1rnDqq4
— Hope (@HopeBarnett_) April 24, 2023
New venue delivers thrilling tournament
This was the first year the event was held at The WoodLands in Houston. The Women’s first major tournament – long known as the Dinah Shore – had been played at Mission Hills in the California desert for the last 50 years. However, the tour was unable to find a sponsor in that location and moved to Texas as part of a six-year deal with Oil & Gas giant, Chevron.
18 is going to be a MAJOR test.
⭐️ #thechevronchampionship #starsarebrighthere pic.twitter.com/tHo1p07PWJ
— The Chevron Championship (@Chevron_Golf) April 23, 2023
The move acted as something of an equaliser for the field, as none of the players could draw on previous experience of playing the course. That resulted in a thrilling event with multiple players having a chance to win. Thai star Atthaya Thitikul, who has held the world no 1 rank, had made four straight birdies from holes 7 through 10, was 10-under standing in the 18th fairway with a chance to make birdie, but hit her third shot into the water, and made double instead to finish two shots out of the playoff.
Vu’s playing partner A Lim Kim was one shot behind her playing partner at 8-under playing the last hole but shanked her second shot and had to scramble for par. Meanwhile Yin had bogeyed the 16 th and 17 th to go from one shot ahead to one shot back but rallied to birdie the last to force the playoff.
There was also the welcome sight of World No. 2 Nelly Korda eagling the 18 th to finish alone in third at 9 under. Korda missed four months last year with a blood clot in her arm that required surgery and it’s great to see her back on the course and competing for the game’s biggest prizes again.
Vu celebrated her win by leaping off a small dock into the murky water of the pond near the 18 th . Winners had been jumping off into the Pond off the 18th green at Mission Hills in California since 1988, and Vu was pumped up enough to keep the tradition going in Houston.
LPGA purses jump but questions remain
Vu earned $765,000 for her win out of a total purse of $5.1 million, the largest ever for this event. The LPGA is offered a record $101.4 million in total prize money spread across 33 tournaments this season, the first time the tour has breached the $100 million mark.
The U.S. Women’s Open tops the list of largest purses for a single event with $10 million while the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship will offer $9 million.
Related: Rising Tide lifts LPGA’s 2023 Prize Fund to $101 million
Like with the PGA Tour, however, the increase in prize money is increasingly concentrated at the top and that has led to questions about equity and whether winners should be making less. Golfweek reported in November 2022 that it’s still possible for a player to make the cut and lose money and that for players with conditional status on the tour, it’s only getting harder to make a living.
“I’ve seen so many players quit due to finances and not due to lack of talent,” veteran Amy Olson told the publication. “You have to have a tour that provides sustainability for that next generation, and we don’t have that right now.”
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Photo – LET Flickr