After weather pushed back tee times for the final round of the Chevron Championship, Lilia Vu thought she might as well go to the Taylor Swift concert in Houston that night after missing her 8 p.m. flight.
But then she became the first player to win an LPGA major championship coming from outside the top 10 since Sherri Turner won the LPGA Championship in 1988. Swift would have to wait.
After landing in Los Angeles at 3 p.m. Monday, Vu and her parents went straight to their favorite restaurant – Thanh My in Westminster – and then packed for another three-week stretch.
Vu opened the JM Eagle LA Championship with 2-under 69 in her first round as a major champion. As a student-athlete at UCLA, Vu played Wilshire Country Club every Wednesday morning with her team.
“It’s nostalgia,” said Vu of coming back to the LA club, “and there’s really no golf course quite like Wilshire. I don’t think you can really compare it to anything in my opinion because they’re just so different from the typical surrounding LA courses around here. It’s not easy. Putting is going to be difficult. I think it’s going to be difficult for everybody”
𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐊 𝐘𝐎𝐔.
Head Coach Carrie Forsyth has announced her retirement following the conclusion of the 2022-23 season.
In her 24 years leading the program, @CoachCForsyth won two NCAA titles and turned UCLA into a perennial national power.
RELEASE: https://t.co/9nYIG8TuuB pic.twitter.com/Jd9iBMWLre
— UCLA Women's Golf (@UCLAWomensGolf) April 24, 2023
Vu, the winningest player in UCLA history with eight titles, is one of six Bruins in the field this week.
Longtime UCLA coach Carrie Forsyth announced her retirement from coaching on Monday.
In 24 years as head coach at UCLA, Forsyth led the Bruins to two NCAA titles, nine NCAA Regional Championships and 74 tournament victories.
After the NCAA postseason, Forsyth will take on a newly-created role as a special assistant to The Alice and Nahum Lainer Family Director of Athletics Martin Jarmond.
Here’s a closer look at the six UCLA players in this week’s field:
Lilia Vu
Vu, now a two-time winner this season, moved up to No. 4 in the world after her victory a the Chevron. She leads the LPGA this season in scoring with an average of 68.6. Vu also led the field at the Chevron in par-3 scoring and now leads the entire tour in that category.
Patty Tavatanakit
Patty Tavatanakit won the 2021 ANA Inspiration, now known as the Chevron Championship, for her breakout moment on the LPGA. She won seven times as a Bruin, becoming a rookie on the LPGA in 2020.
Mo Martin was the first UCLA player to win a major at the 2014 Women’s British Open.
Alison Lee
While Alison Lee hasn’t yet won on the LPGA, the 28-year-old nabbed her first LET title in 2021. Lee qualified for the Solheim Cup as a tour rookie in 2015. She had four top-10 finishes last season.
Lee won the inaugural ANNIKA Award in 2014, given to the nation’s top collegiate player.
Bronte Law
A seven-time winner at UCLA, the sociology major was the 2016 ANNIKA Award winner for national player of the year. Law won her first LPGA title at the 2019 Pure Silk Championship and later that year played a pivotal role in Europe’s Solheim Cup victory in Scotland.
Ryann O’Toole
Ryann O’Toole, 36, became a Rolex First-Time winner with her victory at the 2021 Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open. A member of the 2011 U.S. Solheim Cup team, O’Toole has $3,289,711 in career earnings.
O’Toole notched twelve top-10 finishes as a Bruin.
Mariajo Uribe
Mariajo Uribe, an LPGA mom and two-time Olympian representing Colombia, won three events while at UCLA and was the 2007 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion. As a pro, Uribe won the 2011 HSBC Brazil Cup, an unofficial LPGA event.
