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 landing on the green in four.
Vu was over the green in two shots and chipped onto the putting surface, leaving her a mid-range putt for birdie that was 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.
Vu, a 25-year-old from California, claimed just her second career title after also winning the Honda LPGA Thailand this past February.
It marked the first time the major was played somewhere other than Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif., 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.
She fired a 4-under 68 in her final round to set the clubhouse lead at 10-under 278. 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 No. 18 to finish off an even-par 72 to get back to 10 under and force a playoff with Vu.
World No. 2 Nelly Korda sank a long eagle putt at her last hole to shoot a 71 and finish third at 9-under 279. 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).
–Field Level Media