Native of Fountain Valley, CA, Lilia Vu is a force to be reckoned with in Olympic rounds as we move into Round 2 in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Starting at the young age of seven in the complex sport, Vu showed much promise watching her father and older brother at the range. She proved herself vastly as the AJGA Junior Champion in 2013 and the following year at the CIF-WSCGA Championship. Vu has been earning her pavement to gold for over a decade and furthermore proved her impressive stature in the sport at the 2016 SCGA Women’s Amateur. Between being the Champion in 2016 and winning second at the 2017 SCGA Women’s Amateur, Vu enrolled in UCLA to show herself collegiately in the sport becoming Freshman of the Year in 2016 and is already a three-time WGCA First Team All-American and All-Pac 12 performer and ranked first on the all-time UCLA career victory list with eight individual titles.

Just when you thought it could not get any better for Vu, she earned the World Title just last year as the LPGA Tour Player of the Year, acquired 2 major titles at the 2023 Womens Chevron Championship and the Women’s British Open. All-in-all, with 4 titles on her resume at only 26 years old, Vu is really favored to take gold against these equally impressive female competitors. But the real story of Vu’s confidence, composure and near-flawless stature in this game, she accredits to her beloved family.

Lilia Vu: A True Story of Victory

Though the story of Vu has been seen as victory-to-victory over the years, Lilia is no stranger to adversity and is not afraid to share it. Recently, Vu opened up about her personal and familial sacrifice to becoming the fabulous PGA golfer that she is today. With parents that are first-born Vietnamese immigrants, Vu opened up showcasing the incredible story of her grandfather, Dinh Du. According to NBC, the true hero of her family’s success story, Dinh would go away for long periods of time from the family to build a boat to help the family escape Vietnam’s war-provoked country. Kieu, Lilia’s mother, herself opened up to media about her father being the key reason of their family’s peace in so many ways.

Afloat but Still Torn

Kieu told Golf Digest in 2023 that Du made it very clear the only way to survive the war in their country was to escape to America. After years of creating a craft that was sustainable for holding only 54, Du’s family attempted to flee the Vietnam oppression at a max capacity of 82. There were so many loved ones and friends that wanted the taste of freedom for the future of their family, that the boat even sprang a leak due to piling of anxious immigrants it was not destined to hold. As the boat was capsizing, Du shot out a rescue flare to be heard by the gods but instead was saved by American vessel USS Brewton. Thanks to the imaginative and lucky positioning of the USS Brewton that took all of the petrified refugees on board, Du was given the chance to create a new and safer life for his family. What a story, right? All thanks to this fateful and courageous decision for difference, “my grandpa is the reason why I’m here,” Lilia Vu said to Golf Digest.

There is always something to be said for an athlete that truly holds their family’s history and its delicacy in their heart when they compete. As touching as the bond is between a grandfather and the future of his family, it is never strong enough to defy the gravity of longevity; only the memory that is cherished and legacy that goes on with a story-in-mouth. Du sadly fell ill and passed in recent years, and Lilia admitted that she questioned her future with golf overcome with sadness. At the Chevron Championship in 2023, Vu stated, “Even today, I was getting really upset on the course. I just had to remind myself, like, grandpa is with you, and he’d be really disappointed if you were getting upset like this and that you didn’t get your act together.”

We can guarantee that her grandfather’s strength is the thing she is carrying even more than the weight of competing against the best women in the world today; and so much more intently than most. Wrapping up at the end of the day with an impressive -2 tied with Mexico’s champion, Lopez, Vu stands at #3 for the gold at the moment. With France’s support, Boutier and South Africa’s Buhai, along with Lopez, are the main competition for empowered Vu.

We cannot wait to see where her family’s wholesome influence, as her grandfather watches and cheers from above, will take Lilia Vu on the road to gold!