Lilia Vu wins three-way playoff at
Meijer LPGA Classic
Send a link to a friend
[June 17, 2024]
Lilia Vu birdied the third playoff hole to defeat Lexi
Thompson and Australian Grace Kim and win the Meijer LPGA Classic on
Sunday in Belmont, Mich.
Vu, Thompson and Kim all finished at 16-under 272 after 72 holes at
Blythefield Country Club. After they replayed the par-5 18th hole
twice, with each player making birdie both times, the trio went to
the par-5 fourth hole.
Vu was the only player to put her drive in the fairway, and Thompson
and Kim could merely punch out for their second shots. Vu's second
shot landed in a greenside bunker, but she escaped and left herself
roughly 6 feet for birdie. After her competitors missed longer
birdie tries, Vu sank her putt to claim her fifth career LPGA win
and her first of 2024.
"I just couldn't believe it," Vu said. "I couldn't believe I won
this week. I think I was setting my bar really low so that I could
meet it. I think because I tend to get in my own way when I'm trying
to win, that's when I don't win most of the time, so just trying to
stay in my lane, take advantage of all the good shots, and make all
the birdie putts that I get."
Kim started the day with a five-shot lead but squandered it by
shooting a 1-over 73 while her competitors closed in.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Jun/17/images/ads/current/werth_sda_HEROES_2024.png)
Vu entered Sunday eight shots off Kim's lead but shot a bogey-free,
7-under 65 to make her way back into contention. The eight-stroke
rally was one shot larger than last week's seven-shot comeback win
by Linnea Strom of Sweden at the ShopRite LPGA Classic.
Vu's 65 -- with four birdies over her final six holes -- was the low
round of the day and set the 16-under mark early. Thompson birdied
the 18th to shoot 68 and tie Vu, and Kim made one birdie and eight
pars on her back nine, missing opportunities to surpass 16 under.
"It was so fast," Vu said of the waiting period between her round
and the playoff. "I kind of just knew I needed to go eat and stretch
again and warm up on the range again, just see how it all played
out.
"And then I've been in this position before in playoffs and I was
just trying to do what I could do. We were all playing so well. We
get to 4 and I hit a good drive and it was one of the only times I
could go for the green. Ended up in the bunker and made up and down,
and somehow I'm here with the trophy."
Vu won four times in 2023, including two majors, but she missed last
month's U.S. Women's Open while fighting a back injury.
[to top of second column] |
![](../images/ads/current/graue_lda_4_2021.png)
"It's hard to feel 100 percent, but I think I've
been 95 percent and I think, obviously, I played more than 18 holes
today, so kind of feeling a little tight," Vu said. "It's all good.
It's not the same as before."
Thompson -- the 11-time LPGA Tour winner who
announced last month that she will retire from full-time competition
at season's end -- came up just short of ending her five-year title
drought.
"Knowing I was five shots behind starting the day, I knew I had to
have the pedal down and make a lot of birdies from the jump,"
Thompson said. "I can only control what I can control, so I just
tried to focus one shot at a time and play within myself and my
emotions. That's all I could do. Whatever happens with the result
happened, so happy with the result."
Then there was Kim, who was disappointed in the lost lead but proud
of how she played against two of the best female golfers in the
world.
"I think going the three playoff holes with the player of the year
last year, two major (championships) and, obviously, Lexi just being
an icon for women's golf, says a lot about my game, I guess," Kim
said.
Ally Ewing had a string of four straight birdies on her front nine
and briefly touched 17 under for the tournament. But a
bogey-bogey-birdie finish to her round knocked her out of
contention.
"I had a chance to make (an eagle) on the last hole to potentially
force a playoff, which now we know would've forced a playoff," Ewing
said. "And at the end of the day, that's what you compete for, a
chance to win the golf tournament."
Allisen Corpuz and South Korea's Narin An both shot 2-under 70 and
tied for fifth at 14 under. An bogeyed two of her final three holes
to drop out of the playoff hunt.
--Field Level Media
[© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely
responsible for this content.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Jun/17/images/ads/current/ldn_lda_BUSDIRCOVER_2024.png)
|