As temperatures dropped at The Club at Carlton Woods, a new major champion rose to the occasion at The Chevron Championship. When the dust settled from a one-hole playoff, it was Lilia Vu holding the Dinah Shore trophy after taking a dip, continuing the pond-jump tradition made famous at Mission Hills Country Club.
“I think the emotions were high and just adrenaline, got to jump into that pond,” said Vu. But the journey to the jump was a gripping tale.
The 25-year-old started the day four shots back of overnight leaders Allisen Corpuz and Angel Yin, both searching to become Rolex First-Time Winners. The skies were gray and winds were picking with gusts up to 20mph. Dangerous weather conditions delayed play for 50 minutes at 9 a.m., pushing starting times even further into the afternoon.
Corpuz struggled from the start, with four bogeys and one birdie in her first nine holes. Yin stayed steady, balancing a bogey on the first hole with a birdie on No. 4. Vu, five groups back of the leaders, notched three birdies and rose to 9-under overall before a bogey on 9 set her back. After seven-straight pars, Vu closed with back-to-back birdies to finish with the clubhouse lead at -10 after a final-round 68.
Vu stayed in scoring, electing to wait on media responsibilities with a potential playoff, or victory, on the horizon. She watched the coverage as Yin took the solo lead with a birdie on 13 and bogeyed No. 16 before heading to the driving range. Yin picked herself up after another bogey on 17 and took on the 72nd hole in an aggressive manner, eventually missing a 30-foot putt for eagle but draining a solid 5-foot birdie opportunity to face on Vu in extra holes.
Vu and Yin both found the fairway on the 73rd hole but missed the green, with Vu finding the fringe and Yin in the water. “I hit a good drive. Honestly, I don’t know how it got that far. Maybe I hit something while it landed, but it was significantly further. I think when I actually played 18 during my round, I had a hybrid in, and then all of a sudden I had a 7-iron in on the playoff hole,” said Vu. “I had just seen Angel hit, and then we were deciding what to hit, either going with the 7 or going extra with the 6-iron just to give it extra room to get over the water. I was just feeling 7-iron and I was going to hit it.
“We hit a good shot, and then I knew the green was really fast, but I wasn’t sure with all the rough and into the grain from the fringe, so I left it short. But 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.”
Yin’s runner-up performance ties her career-best finish in a major championship, which she also recorded at the 2019 U.S. Women’s Open. “Honestly, I held it together, and then 16 and 17 really just was like bad club decision, mind mindset on 16 off the tee, and then obviously in the playoff hole, I just didn’t hit a good shot,” said Yin. “It just kind of spoke a lot about today.”
Nelly Korda recorded a Sunday 71 to notch her fourth top-five finish this season, and third-straight top-three finish in The Chevron Championship after earning a T2 result in 2020 and a tie for third in 2021. “Every single time I can finish well at a major, put myself into contention, that’s what I strive to do,” said Korda, who missed the Championship in 2022 as she recovered from a blood clot. “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.”
Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul finished in a tie for fourth (-8) with 36-hole leader A Lim Kim, Amy Yang, Albane Valenzuela and Corpuz, with Jin Young Ko and Megan Khang rounding out the top 10 in a tie for ninth at -7. Eila Galitsky earned low amateur honors in the Championship after recording a final-round 70 (+1 overall) to finish T28.
