Healthier Vu looking for a fresh start at Meijer LPGA Classic

 Healthier Vu looking for a fresh start at Meijer LPGA Classic

By Jeff Babineau

 

BELMONT, Mich. – This time last year, Lilia Vu was on her way to a monster season during which she would win four times and climb to No. 1 in the world. Two of her 2023 victories were majors en route to Vu becoming the LPGA’s Rolex Player of the Year.

 

This year has been a completely different story for the 26-year-old Californian, a former standout at UCLA. Twice Vu has been forced to withdraw from tournaments, including the season’s first major, when she was defending at Chevron. This week’s Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give in Michigan will be Vu’s first start since late March, as she has spent the season dealing with an on-again, off-again back injury.

 

“Yeah, definitely been a process,” Vu said of her strange start-and-stop season. “I kind of had to reevaluate my game and how my body moves. I think that was the most important thing, and it was kind of the best time to kind of work on my stability and compensation. Worked really hard over the past couple weeks getting that ready.”

 

Vu has tried to prepare for Meijer through a series of nine-hole rounds that have helped her slowly get back to competition mode. She watched some of the U.S. Women’s Open on television, but knew she wasn’t yet ready to be at Lancaster competing.

 

Instead of detailed swing thoughts this week, her mind will be occupied with other areas of returning to full health. Mainly, that includes how she is breathing.

 

“The way I sit, the way I lay, the way I stand, the way I walk, everything has to be more conscious,” said Vu, who tied for 12th at Blythefield Country Club two years ago.

 

“I know my patterns. I don't want to get so technical with it because it's just going to bore everybody,” Vu said. “I escape on my right hip, and so trying to ‘breathe through that hip’ more. Little stuff like that.

 

She says she won’t be too tied up in her results this week.

 

“It's not too difficult. It's just feels weird to me,” she said. “But I should be okay. It's definitely an adjustment.”

 

Good vibes for Brooke at Blythefield

 

Canada’s Brooke Henderson has a great feeling that returns each time she steps on the grounds at Blythefield Country Club, and with good reason: Twice at the Meijer she has finished her tournament with the champion’s trophy in her hands.

 

“I'm so excited to be back here. I love Grand Rapids,” Henderson said on Tuesday. “I have lots of family and friends in the area, which makes it really fun and special to be here. Obviously winning twice, a long time ago now, but I have lots of great memories, and I'm really looking forward to teeing it up on Thursday and hopefully posting a low score and see what happens.”

 

Henderson is only 26, but already has piled up 13 LPGA victories, moving past the $13 million mark in career earnings this season. She has yet to win in 2024, but has five top-10 finishes; three times has finished third. She won the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give in 2017, and then won the event again two years later.

 

“You know, those two tournament victories really made a huge impact on my career and gave me a lot of confidence and motivation moving forward,” Henderson said.

 

“I'm excited to be back on a course where I have so many great memories. Hopefully I can try to recreate some of them and put myself in a good position on the weekend.”

 

Maguire was patient, then pounced

 

In capturing the second LPGA title of her career last June, Leona Maguire said she did not look at her first leaderboard of the day until she stepped onto the 18th green. Really, what was the point? Blythefield is the type of golf course where players can go low, so Maguire kept her head down, went on offense, and kept making birdies, closing with a round of 64.

 

The scoring usually is pretty low at Meijer, but Blythefield presents one of the LPGA’s more interesting tests of the year. It’s fairly tight off the tee – Maguire points to the first and 18th holes as particularly challenging to get a tee shot in the fairway – but if the driver is dialed in, a player can find lots of scoring chances.

 

“You can’t be too aggressive,” said Ireland’s Maguire, a former All-America at Duke. “If you get out of position, you can rack up a number pretty quickly.”

 

Maguire showed great patience in her final round last year. She caught Ariya Jutanugarn with an eagle at the par-5 14th hole, and played her final six holes in 6 under to pull away.

 

“For me, last year in particular, I knew I was playing well, I just had to be patient and just sort of had to wait for that one putt to drop and get that momentum shift,” Maguire said.

 

“You know everybody is going low. You know everybody is going to make birdies. You just have to keep making birdies to even stay where you are. You can’t get too defensive, really. When you are in the lead you can’t protect it, you keep having to go on the offensive. I just keep trying to keep your foot down and keep going.”

 

She did exactly that, reaching 21 under for the tournament and walking away with the trophy after runner-up finishes in each of the two previous years.

 

June 11, 2024
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