ST ANDREWS, Scotland — The omens were not looking good for Lilia Vu at the start of this week. No reigning Women’s Open champion had defended her title since Yani Tseng in 2011, no American woman had successfully defended an LPGA major title since Juli Inkster at the PGA Championship in 2000, and in case there was any doubt about the magnitude of the task, no incumbent on the Open throne had managed to make the cut since Georgia Hall in 2019.
Vu has already rewritten the final statistics, but the way she fought back in the final hour of a test round on Saturday suggests she has more changes to the Open script in store. She will begin Sunday’s final round one stroke behind two-time champion Jiyai Shin and one stroke ahead of Nelly Korda. Jenny Shin and Lydia Ko complete the top five.
After missing a par putt on hole 9 of the Old Course, Vu found himself three shots behind Korda at the turn, who had recovered from two bogeys on the first two holes to give an impression of composure again.
It’s tempting to look at Vu’s body language in these moments and see an athlete who exudes doubt rather than confidence, even though he has also won two major titles and is ranked alongside world number one Korda.
Although she entered the professional tour in 2019 with the prestige of being the best amateur, Vu’s first few years on the professional tour were filled with anxiety. She lost and then got her LPGA card back. She considered studying law at university for a more secure career. She had to learn to smile while playing so negative thoughts wouldn’t derail her game.
Even when she won her first major title at the Chevron Championship last April and backed it up with a win at the Open at Walton Heath, the difficulties in the months that followed made her wonder whether it had all been a “coincidence”.
Two players in @LPGA won their first three majors within two seasons: Louise Suggs (1946–47) and Mickey Wright (1958–59).
Lilia Vu would join them with a win tomorrow.
— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGolf) 24 August 2024
But behind the self-deprecating facade lies a deceptively iron-willed attitude. Last year, for example, she went into the final on the last day tied with favorite Charley Hull and overran the field to win by six strokes.
After that win, Vu’s father made good on his promise that if she won, she could buy a cat. The cat, aptly named “Walton,” became part of the family and this week she vowed to adopt another one if she becomes champion for the second year in a row.
She hadn’t used many lives in that endeavor until Thursday and Friday. Two escapes from separate bunkers on the par-3 10th hole were the best she managed, but on Saturday she met with misfortune.
Vu hit a putt on the slope on hole 12 way too far and lost a stroke, and then her tee shot on hole 13 landed in the coffin bunkers. She suffered the consequences by chipping sideways and taking a bogey.
The smile therapy no longer seemed to be working, but Cole Pensanti, Vu’s caddy since last month, helped the 26-year-old get back on her feet.
“In the middle of it, the wheels fell off,” Vu said.
“I got nervous, but my caddie was able to reassure me and tell me I was playing well. It was just a couple of bad streaks. I was totally bummed because I thought I hit a good shot and then the ball slipped in.
“He said, ‘This is links golf. It’s an important championship. Of course balls are going to go in the bunker.’ I think what he was basically saying was, ‘You’ve missed every single ball for the last two days, so now it’s your turn to go in the bunker.’
“That’s just Cole. He kind of put me in my place a little bit. He kind of helped me by saying, ‘Okay, you’re playing really well. You haven’t played this well in the last two days, actually in the last two weeks. So just go out there and keep doing what you’re doing.'”
She was “combative” and refused to be left behind, with birdies on three of the final five holes. It was her third under-par round of the week and means she goes into the final day at 6 under par, one stroke behind 2008 and 2012 champion Jiyai Shin, who made seven birdies en route to a 5 under par 67 on Saturday – reminding the field that she is still a force to be reckoned with despite moving to the Japan tour a decade ago to be closer to her native South Korea.
That Vu is a tenacious competitor should come as no surprise. One only has to understand how her family came to America in the 1980s after escaping post-war Vietnam on a makeshift raft built by her grandfather to realize that her resilience has deeper roots than most.
“He was a quiet, hard worker,” she said.
“He kind of passed that on to me, I was definitely struggling in the middle of the round today. I just thought, give me a sign that I’m doing something right.”
What was that sign? “The birdie on 16,” Vu said with a wry smile.
Jiyai Shin shot a 67 on Saturday to take the lead in the Women’s Open on the Old Course. (Luke Walker / Getty Images)
After a low-scoring morning in which 19 players in the first 24 groups remained under par and two rounds ended with 66 strokes, the wind picked up again and restricted the afternoon groups.
Korda struggled with distance control and her new putter wasn’t as effective as it had been on Friday. But it was also hole 16 that changed the course of Vu’s round and threatened to ruin Korda when she was assessed a one-stroke penalty when her tee shot went out of bounds to the right of the fairway.
This resulted in a double bogey, which she followed with another bogey after placing her approach shot well behind the difficult 17th green.
Both Korda and Vu made birdies on the 18th hole, leaving Korda, who began the day with a three-shot lead, three shots back of the lead. However, the top of the leaderboard is tight, with the first 15 shots separated by just five shots.
Ko is tired of her eight-year wait for her third major title dominating the headlines, but winning gold at the Olympics this month has refreshed her mindset.
“Honestly, something happened that was too good to be true, and I think I’m just so grateful that I was able to carry that momentum,” Ko said.
“A lot of people say, ‘Oh, you have nothing to lose.’ But even when I play competitively, I’m still greedy and I still want to win every time I tee off.
“I missed the cut in Portland last year and I was at Texas barbecue, but I couldn’t taste anything because I was crying so much with my sister and talking about what was going on and what was ahead. ‘I feel lost, I don’t know if I can win again.’ All these thoughts were going through my head.
“I wasn’t in a good mental state, but the way I overcame that made me really proud. When I came to the finish line at the Olympics, I said to myself, ‘I’m just proud that I just kept going.'”
“All of these moments have made me the person I am today, and I know I’m probably a little stronger now than the girl who teed off here in 2013.”
(Top photo: Andy Buchanan / AFP via Getty Images)
