Lilia Vu is making 2023 a year to remember.
The 25-year-old picked up her first LPGA win earlier this season at the Honda LPGA Thailand and has since added two more wins, both major championships, to her impressive tally. Vu claimed the Chevron Championship in April and added the 2023 AIG Women’s Open on Sunday at Walton Heath Golf Club near London.
Ranked No. 6 in the world, Vu shot a final-round 5-under 67 to win by six shots at 14 under. She made an early birdie on the par-4 second hole and kept her round on track with six straight pars before a closing birdie on par-3 ninth. After the turn Vu began to run away from the pack with two more birdies on Nos. 10 and 12. Her lone bogey of the day came on the No. 15, but she got the shot back with another birdie on the 16th and a closing birdie on the final hole.
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“It’s just been a crazy year for me,” she said. “Just doing pretty well at the beginning of the season and just hit a lull in the middle, just struggling. I thought at the U.S. Open after I played so bad, I didn’t know if I could ever win again.”
Charley Hull, who began the day tied with Vu for the lead, finished second at 8 under after a 1-over 73. Jiyai Shin (70) finished third. Hyo Joo Kim (74) and Amy Yang (70) finished T-4 at 6 under.
U.S. Women’s Open champion Allisen Corpuz had one of the low rounds of the day, a 3-under 69 to vault herself to a T-6 finish. Celine Boutier, back-to-back winner of the Amundi Evian Championship and Women’s Scottish Open, fell short of the trifecta but shot a final-round 4-under 68 to finish T-16. Defending champion Ashleigh Buhai missed the cut.
Since her win at the Chevron, Vu has missed four cuts over eight starts, with a best finish of 17th. On the season, she has just three top-five finishes, and they’re all wins.
“My mom, she always told me I was good enough have to compete out here and be the best. She’s really my rock and the reason why I’m here,” Vu said, talking about how imporant her family was in helping her find confidence at golf’s highest level. “And then also, with my grandpa passing away at the beginning of COVID, and I remember I was on my way to a tournament. I had saw him in the hospital before I left, and he was okay. It was a little scare, and he told me just to go out there and play my best before my tournament. Meanwhile, he’s sick and he’s worried about me and my golf game. By the time I came back, he had passed and those were his last words to me. I always think about that every single day. Even when I’m struggling out there on the course, I know he’s out there with me just letting me know that it’s going on okay.”
