Major champion Lilia Vu currently sits at 4-under through 36 holes at the AIG Women's Open, carding rounds of 72 and 68 on days one and two to put herself in the mix heading into the weekend. The California native took advantage of a morning tee time and followed up her lackluster opening-round, even-par 72, with an impressive 4-under 68 on Friday. Vu got off to a slow start but posted back-to-back birdies on holes 6 and 7, flanking her lone bogey with birdies on holes 10 and 12.
After winning The Chevron Championship in April, Vu has hit a slump in her game, having only made three cuts in her last seven starts. But the young American's game is trending upward, with two of those the three made cuts coming in the past two weeks at The Amundi Evian Championship and FREED GROUP Women's Scottish Open presented by Trust Golf, where Vu finished ultimately finished T42 and T35, respectively.
"I feel like post-Chevron Championship, I've been struggling a little bit, and to finally, hopefully, be in contention by the end of today, it just feels really rewarding," said the 25-year-old, who also won the Honda LPGA Thailand in March. “I felt like I've had a hard couple of months just with everything and dealing with just my expectations of myself, so it's nice to be in contention."
Luckily, Vu is no stranger to hard times. After a less-than-perfect rookie season in 2019, Vu considered stepping away from the game but instead decided to play on the Epson Tour to refocus, eventually making her way back to the LPGA Tour for the 2022 season via the Race for the Card. The UCLA alum won three times on the Epson Tour in 2021 and has used those experiences to her advantage in both her newfound success on the LPGA Tour and the struggles she’s face as of late.
"I think just not being too hard on myself. I think every time I get in my own way, it's when I'm too focused on winning," said Vu. "But if I just focus on playing my game and just hopefully being in contention, then I'm in a good position to try and win instead of just getting really upset if I mess up on a hole, and I did that last week. I got upset when I was playing well and then just couldn't hold it together after because I thought it was just over. And I'm just trying to be in a better mindset this week."
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