(Reuters) – Lilia Vu kept the memory of her late grandfather in mind to maintain her composure on Sunday as she collected her maiden major title at the Chevron Championship, the 25-year-old American told reporters.
Vu drained a long birdie putt to beat compatriot Angel Yin in a playoff at the Club at Carlton Woods near Houston and said it was not always easy to hold her nerve on the challenging course.
“The past two days, I was very angry. I didn’t feel like myself,” said Vu, who started the day four strokes back after a disappointing one-over par third round. “I just felt like I was getting angry over every single little thing, and that’s usually not how I roll.”
Vu said she thought of her grandfather, who fled his native Vietnam with his wife and children and died early on during the COVID-19 pandemic, to keep herself going.
“Today, I was getting really upset on the course, and I just had to remind me, like grandpa is with you, and he’d be really disappointed if you were getting upset like this and that you didn’t get your act together,” she told reporters.
She birdied on the final two holes and waited nervously on the sidelines as Yin, who had a clear path to victory, stumbled into a pair of late bogeys and birdied on the final hole to send it into the tiebreak.
The win was all the more sweet for Vu after she struggled to keep going during a low point in her career three years ago.
“I was just in such a bad place with my golf game. Just everything was life or death. I just saw everybody that I’ve competed with being successful, and I just compared myself all the time,” said Vu.
“But now I know that everybody’s journey is different.”
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Sonali Paul)
