Lilia Fu beat fellow American Angel Yin in a playoff to secure her first major chevron title.
Vu started the final day with four shots but moved up the leaderboard with five birdies – including two on the 17th and 18th to close out 68 – and a total of 10 fewer.
Yin made a clenching victory, but faltered on 16th and 17th before securing a playoff with a birdie at the end. But her second shot in the playoff hit the water and Fu attempted a long shot to win at the Carlton Woods in Texas.
“Everything happens for a reason, all bad things,” said Fu, 25, who had considered quitting the sport a few years ago. “The past couple of days, I’ve been so angry. I didn’t feel like myself. I felt like I was getting angry about every little thing, which isn’t usually how I roll.”
Phu said she thought of her grandfather, who left his native Vietnam with his wife and children and died early during the Covid-19 pandemic, to carry on.
“Today, I was really upset about the course, and I just had to remind myself, ‘Grandpa is with you and he’s going to be really disappointed if you’re upset like that and that you don’t get your act together,'” she added.
The winners of the event when it was held in Mission Hills have had a tradition of jumping into a pond in front of the 18th green ever since, and Vu has continued that tradition by jumping from a small pier into the murky waters of the pond in front of the final green at Carlton Woods.
“Yesterday we saw a snake in the pond, so I was kind of thinking about that today,” Fu said. “But I think emotions were running high, so I said we should just jump into that pool.”
As Fu smiled, there was the bitter disappointment of Lynn, who started the final day top of the leaderboard with compatriot Alison Corpuz, who finished the season with a seven-under-par 74, and was in the lead with five holes to play. “I wasn’t hitting it very well. Honestly, I kept that together, and then it was 16 and 17 because of bad club decisions,” Yin said.
Others bowled with odds to win include Athaya Teticul, who made four consecutive birdies of 7-10 and was standing at 10-under the 18th fairway when she hit her third putt into the water, resulting in a double bogey.
World No. 2 Nelly Korda knocked out an eagle putt in the 18th to finish third, by one shot, after missing the tournament a year ago after having surgery for a blood clot in her arm. Her performance would see her return to the top of the world rankings.
England’s pole-scorer was Georgia Hall, who finished 12th with Spaniard Carlota Ciegada having finished 68th to finish 5th. Ireland’s Leona Maguire finished 23rd with a tie.