PATTAYA, Thailand — American Lilia Vu rode a hot putter to claim her maiden LPGA crown with a one-shot victory over home favourite Natthakritta Vongtaveelap at the LPGA Thailand.
Trailing the local rookie by six strokes at the start of the day, 25-year-old Vu unleashed eight impressive birdies, including five straight from the eighth hole to end her campaign with an immaculate round of 8-under 64 for a 22-under 266 total at Siam Country Club Old Course.
“My dad told me that just one good round and I could win. That´s all I kept thinking about,” Vu said according to AP.
“I just blacked out and tried to birdie every single hole I could,” added Vu, whose maiden tour victory came after three third-place finishes in 2022.
The UCLA alumni came up short again at the Ladies European Tour in Saudi Arabia last week where she settled for another third place.
“I knew I was going to win, it was just when… and I finally did,” she added.
Vu became the third American to triumph in the event after Lexi Thompson in 2016 and Jessica Korda in 2018.
Playing her first LPGA tournament, Vongtaveelap´s lack of experience took a toll with the 20-year-old golfer enduring a mixed final round featuring seven birdies offset by a double bogey and four bogeys to sign off with a 1-under 71 and and 267 overall.
Her hope for forcing a play-off was dashed after her birdie attempt at the last landed a foot away from the pin.
“Feels really good to get it done. I feel like I put a lot of pressure on myself at the end of last year, and during the off-season I kind of just changed my mindset. Like I always knew I was going to win, I just got to let it happen,”
“The more you hold onto something I feel like it gets further away. I came close a lot towards the end of the last season, so I was just going to have fun and play my game and it would eventually work itself out.”
Thai rookie Vongtaveelap struggled to stay steady under pressure on day four in Chonburi, Thailand.
The 20-year-old birdied the first, seeming to be in total control, but a bogey on the second appeared to rattle her cage. She doubled the par-3, 4th, and after recovering with a birdie on hole 5, made another bogey at the 6th.
Thailand will have to wait for a second local winner after former No. 1 Ariya Jutanugarn prevailed in the 2021 edition.
Another Thai golfer, Atthaya Thitikul, was third after a final-round 68 got her to 268.
Maja Stark of Sweden and French Celine Boutier settled at joint fourth on 271, one ahead of top-ranked Lydia Ko, who finished joint-sixth on 272.
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