Lilia Vu Leaps to Chevron Championship Victory After Dramatic Sudden-Death Playoff

The 25-year-old once contemplated stepping away from professional golf. Now she’s a major champion in Houston.

After a rough rookie season on the LPGA Tour in 2019, Lilia Vu contemplated stepping away from professional golf. Despite an extensive run as the No. 1 amateur in the world, Vu didn’t know whether she was cut out to compete on such a stage. 

Three transformative years later, Vu is a major champion in Houston. 

Vu, 25, clinched the Chevron Championship title after a dramatic one-hole sudden-death playoff against 24-year-old American Angel Yin. 

As the first winner at The Club at Carlton Woods, the tournament’s new Houston venue, Vu was asked if she’d carry on the 18th hole champion’s pond leap tradition. 

Her answer was definitive: “Of course, I am. After that? Yes, of course.”

Vu plunged into the lake with her team, despite the water looking murkier than Poppie’s Pond, the man-made pool at the championship’s former host venue, Mission Hills. 

LILIA VU! The 25-year-old from California made the leap to her first major championship in Houston🔥

(via @LPGA)pic.twitter.com/PD9jSH0cT8

— SI Golf (@SI_Golf) April 23, 2023

Vu started the day four strokes back of leaders Yin and Allisen Corpuz, but a stellar closing round of 68 helped her soar into contention. Vu made the turn at 2 under for the day after an unfortunate bogey on the 9th, but rallied back when she needed to, making birdies on the 17th and 18th holes to grab a clubhouse lead. 

Yin, who has yet to win on the LPGA, reached 11 under for the tournament on the par-5 13th but limped down the stretch. She made costly bogeys at both the 16th and 17th holes, but birdied the par-5 18th to secure a spot in the playoff against Vu. 

Vu and Yin were carted back to the 18th tee where they both striped their tee shots, allowing both players to go for the green in two. Yin hit her approach first, but snap-hooked a 5-iron into the pond and was forced to take a penalty drop. 

Vu, meanwhile, hit an excellent long iron to the back-right fringe—a very similar position to her shot during regulation. Yin stuck her fourth shot for a chance to save par, but Vu’s eventual birdie putt didn’t leave the center of the cup. The stroke will define her first major championship victory and second career win on the LPGA Tour. 

“I can’t even put it into words how I was feeling. I was nervous, I was scared, I was cold. I just wanted to hit the putt,” Vu said of the final stroke. “I just wanted to be done with it. I saw my line and speed, I knew it was going to be a fast putt and I trusted myself.”

Vu, a former UCLA golf sensation, has overcome more than a few obstacles since she turned pro in 2019. In her maiden season on Tour, Vu made just one cut in nine starts. She was sent back to the Epson Tour, and COVID-19 hit just a short while later. With her mental game at an all-time low, she wasn’t positive she’d be able to claw her way back to LGPA membership. When her grandfather passed away in 2020, things got even more difficult. 

On Friday evening, Vu explained the mental work she did during the pandemic to rebuild her confidence. She read personal development books and dove into self-help literature to find a fix. 

This season, the results of that work and growth finally started to emerge for Vu. In February, the California native came back from a six-shot deficit to win in Thailand and she has finished in the top 15 in all four of her starts in 2023.

“Everything happens for a reason. All the bad things, everything I’ve ever struggled through, family-wise, internally. I think myself as the biggest obstacle. I mean I had a pretty tough, not easy past two days. I was definitely my own enemy and I don’t know how I pulled this out. I’m just really happy and proud of Cole and I for doing this,” said Vu. 

Vu collects $765,000 for the victory, the largest check of her career and a historic winner’s prize at the first LPGA major of the season.