There was a time during Lilia Vu’s 2019 rookie year when she remembers feeling that she “did not belong” on the LPGA Tour. That season was a struggle. She lost her LPGA card, sending her to the pipeline Epson Tour.
The Covid pandemic suspended golf competition for most of 2020, but it was right before she left home in California to play an Epson Tour event in Florida that her hospitalized grandfather told her in Vietnamese: “Try your best.”
The next year, she won three times on the 2021 Epson Tour and finished first on the tour’s season money list to regain 2022 LPGA status.
Her grandfather, Dinh Du, passed away shortly after encouraging his granddaughter in 2020, but his words remain as an every-day mantra for Vu, who won her first LPGA tournament in 2023.
She also finished the year with four victories, including two major championships, honors as the Player of the Year, and was No. 1 in the world’s Rankings. She became the first American to win the LPGA’s ANNIKA Major Award since it was launched in 2017, and recorded earnings of more than $3.5 million in a season paced by seven top-10 finishes.
Golf fans now know Vu, 26, as the steady and powerful Vietnamese- American star who won eight tournaments as a collegian at UCLA and, as a Southern California junior golfer, dreamed of someday playing on the LPGA Tour.
She’s also an avid reader of selfhelp books, loves cats and Taylor Swift, binge-watches “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and prefers steak as preround fare.
Here’s what Lilia Vu thinks about her milestone 2023 LPGA season.
What does it mean to you to be named Player of the Year?
Vu: It means a lot. I’ve played for my grandpa this entire season and I think he would be really proud of how hard I have worked. My rookie season wasn’t great and sometimes I still get upset on the course, but I remind myself that he would be disappointed if I didn’t get my act together. I think he’d say all of my struggles were worth it.
Why did your grandfather play such a key role in your life?
Vu: [In Vietnam,] he would go away for a couple of months at a time, building a boat in the countryside. One day, he told my mom and her siblings it was time to go. He took extra people from the village and they fled Vietnam [in 1982 with 82 people on board]. After two days, there was a leak in the boat [and they were rescued by a U.S. Naval ship]. My grandpa is the reason I am here. He was a hard worker. I try to be like him and quietly work my way along.
How did you turn this year around for so much success?
Vu: I read a book called The Slight Edge [by Jeff Olson] and I’ve stuck to my 1-percent-better-every-day approach to grow as a person. I’ve stuck to that and golf just followed.
How has perfectionism hurt you?
Vu: I’m really my own enemy— balancing between trying to be perfect on the golf course and not being too content with where I am. I’ve learned that the only real pressure I have is from myself. This year, I came in with no expectations because last year, I had too many and I was too hard on myself. I’m trying to enjoy every moment and be grateful. Golf isn’t life or death.
Did you really buy a cat in Korea during an LPGA tournament and bring it home?
Vu: Yes, and his name is Walton [for Walton Heath Golf Club in England where she won the 2023 AIG Women’s Open]. He stays with my grandma until I get home. The LPGA shouldn’t have a hotel near a pet store!
What’s up with eating steak during tournament weeks?
Vu: I have this theory that if I eat steak the night before a round, I’ll play really well. I like them medium rare. Anything else is beef jerky.
What did it take for you to finally win on the LPGA Tour?
Vu: Maturity, growth. I put a lot of self-worth into my golf game, but I’m more than just my golf game. I had to learn that the hard way. I needed to go through a rough patch to get to where I am today. I learned my best golf comes from having fun on the course.
This was first published in Essential Golf – you can read the complete magazine here.