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World women's golf in 2023 can only be called by one name, Lilia Vu's. It is not only because of her sporting results (which were incredible) but because she herself did not visualize the season as it was.
Vu began the 2023 season ranked 41st in the Rolex Rankings. She had never won on the LPGA Tour, and her three professional victories (all on the Symetra Tour) dated back to 2021. Add to that the fact that just a couple of years earlier she was on the verge of quitting professional golf.
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With such credentials, Lilia Vu entered her third season on the LPGA Tour (second in a row) with rather basic goals. Her idea was more along the lines of "wait and see." That's how Vu herself described it at the end of her fabulous year, according to Golf.com:
"It's just been wild. I don't think I expected this at all. I have said this before - I came in with no expectations."
"I was just in such a bad place. Everything was life or death. I just saw everybody that I’ve competed with being successful, and I just compared myself all the time," she added.
Of course, nothing comes out of nowhere. Since the previous season, Lilia Vu had shown signs of her progression, making 21 cuts in 24 LPGA Tour tournaments, with eight Top 10s as her best result. Of course, the best was yet to come.
2023 was 'The Blessed Year' for Lilia Vu
Lilia Vu didn't have to go far into the 2023 season to prove to the world and herself that it would be a different year. Her first start of the season (Saudi Ladies International, Ladies European Tour) saw her finish T3, while her first tournament of the year on the LPGA Tour brought her the maiden top-level win of her career (Honda LPGA Thailand).
In just two weeks, Lilia Vu found herself inside the winner's circle on the world's premier tour and in the Top 15 of the Rolex Rankings. Her next three starts made it clear that this was no isolated case of unusual luck, as she earned one Top 10 and two Top 15s in them.
Eight weeks after her first victory on the LPGA Tour, Vu repeated her triumph, this time to fulfil the dream of any professional golfer, to win a major. It was The Chevron Championship and the champion put her competitiveness to the test when she had to dispute the title in a playoff against Angel Yin.
The season continued with another 16 tournaments in which Vu suffered four cuts but won twice more, including her second major. As if that wasn't enough, the LPGA Tour star added three more top 10s.
It is no coincidence that Vu won the LPGA Tour Player of the Year Award. Only Celine Boutier (another four-time winner and one-time Major champion during the season), gave her any competition. Their performance at the CME Group Tour Championship (fourth place for the American and T16 for the Frenchwoman) sealed the deal with Vu.
