The LPGA’s first major tournament of the year provided a sudden-death finish in its first year in Texas.
Lilia Vu won her first major tournament at the Chevron Championship, which was moved from Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California, to The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands this year.
Vu, the world’s No.12 women’s golfer, defeated Angel Yin in a one-hole playoff after beginning the day four strokes behind and heading to the clubhouse with a lead at the end of her round on Sunday.
Yin bogeyed back-to-back holes on 16 and 17 to fall behind but recovered with a birdie on 18 as both golfers finished the final round at -10, forcing the 10th playoff in the event’s history.
Both golfers set themselves up well on their tee shots, but Yin’s second shot fell in the water short of the green, while Vu’s ended up in the fringe on the backside.
Yin recovered to set up a manageable putt for par, but Vu converted a birdie to win her second LPGA event of the year and become the first LPGA participant to win multiple tournaments this season.
“I thought it was a good moment for women’s golf because you had some really exciting golf down the stretch,” Steve Salzman, general manager and chief operating officer of The Club at Carlton Woods, told The Dallas Express.
“To have two recognizable names battling it out on NBC for the last hour, hour-and-a-half of coverage, and then the playoff hole — super exciting. It was a great week for Chevron and a great week for Carlton Woods,” he added.
Salzman said the LPGA hoped to replicate the “20,000-ish” crowd that packed Mission Hills for the tournament in years past. While no official number has been calculated, he speculates that around 25 to 30 thousand people attended the event in The Woodlands.
The LPGA continues its season this weekend with the JM Eagle LA Championship at the Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles. The next major on the schedule is the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in late June.
