Lilia Vu defeated Angel Yin on their first playoff hole to win her first major title on Sunday at the Chevron Championship in The Woodlands, Texas.
Replaying the par-5 18th hole at the Jack Nicklaus Signature Course at The Club at Carlton Woods, Yin's second shot splashed into a water hazard in front of the green and she had to take a drop, eventually reaching the green in four.
Vu was over the green in two shots and chipped onto the putting surface, leaving her a putt of roughly 14 feet, longer than Yin had left for par. Vu's right-to-left putt for the winning birdie dropped in the left corner of the cup.
"I knew on that last putt, all I had to do was just do my routine, read the putt how I usually do, and just hit this putt because I've hit that putt a million times and I knew I could make it," Vu said.
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Vu, a 25-year-old from California, claimed just her second career LPGA title after also winning the Honda LPGA Thailand this past February.
“Everything happens for a reason,” Vu said. “I was definitely my own enemy, and I don’t know how I pulled this out.”
Ireland’s Leona Maguire earned a top-30 finish after a final round 73 saw her finish at even par.
Maguire started the tournament badly with an opening 76, before an impressive 69 in the second round saw her creep inside the cut. She started the final round nine shots off the leaders, and never really made an headway on the gap, finishing her week in tied-23rd.
This week was the first time the major was played somewhere other than Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California, where the winning golfers maintained a longstanding tradition of jumping into Poppie’s Pond to celebrate. Vu continued that tradition by leaping into the lake next to the 18th green.
“I think [caddie Cole Pensanti] and I kind of passed by on 18 during the practice round and kind of discussed, ‘Would you jump,’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, I would jump,’” Vu said. “If I won here, of course I would jump.”
Vu fired a 4-under 68, tied for the lowest round of the day, to set the clubhouse lead at 10-under 278. She made five birdies, including at Nos. 17 and 18.
Yin, who was a 54-hole co-leader with Allisen Corpuz, was 11 under for the tournament through 15 holes but landed in sand bunkers at the par-4 16th and par-3 17th, bogeying each time.
Yin two-putted for birdie at 18 to finish off an even-par 72 to get back to 10 under and force a playoff with Vu.
Yin entered the week at number 172 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Ranking.
"I think I've just come a long way," she said. "I'm just really happy with who I am, where I am, and what I'm doing right now. Just a lot to appreciate."
World number two Nelly Korda sank a long eagle putt at her last hole to shoot a 71 and finish third at 9-under 279.
"Every single time I can finish well at a major, put myself into contention, that's what I strive to do," Korda said. "A little sad that I didn't really have my best stuff today. My putter kind of let me down this week a little. Even though I made some really good putts, I also missed some putts that I usually don't.
"Overall I have a lot to work on, but for it to be the first major of the year, I think I played pretty well, and hopefully I can build on it."
Corpuz shot a 74 and dropped into a tie for fourth at 8 under with Thailand's Atthaya Thitikul (71 on Sunday), Switzerland's Albane Valenzuela (73) and South Koreans A Lim Kim (72) and Amy Yang (73).
World No. 3 Jin Young Ko of South Korea shot a 68 and tied for ninth at 7 under with Megan Khang (74).
