Leona Maguire was content with a T-23 finish at the Chevron Championship but admits she has plenty to work on heading into the bulk of the season after the first major of the season.
Maguire looked down and out standing on five-over at the midway point of her second round but four birdies on her back nine saw her make the cut on the mark and she made progress over the weekend finishing on level-par.
The Cavan native signed for a one-over 73 after a disappointing back nine of seven pars and two bogeys. The 28-year-old had started well as birdies on six and eight cancelled out an early bogey.
A weekend charge never materialised as she finished ten shots adrift of winner but she was pleased with her response after it appeared she would miss the cut at a whimper.
“I’d have taken it on Friday afternoon standing on the tenth tee. It would have been nice to finish a little better today but overall a solid week.
“My approach shots weren’t good enough this week. It was tricky, I made a lot of good up and downs but it was difficult to shoot low the way I was hitting it into the greens so need to work on that.
“The course was playing tough today, this is by far the toughest set up. I hit 3-wood into two of the greens today. It’s hard to get close to the pins. Didn’t quite hole the putts I needed to make a move but a solid week overall.”
Both Vu and Angel Yin couldn’t be separated on ten-under-par, both a shot ahead of Nelly Korda. However, Yin will rue dropped shots on 16 and 17 which dropped her out of the lead and one behind Vu. Yin did birdie 18 but then skewed her second shot on the first playoff hole into the water on 18.
That left the stage open for Vu although the drama didn’t end there as she held a ten foot birdie putt to win her maiden major championship.
The 25-year-old has been in incredible form this season, winning the Honda LPGA Thailand and not finishing worse than fourteenth this year.
“I can’t put into words what I was feeling over the putt. I just wanted to hit it and be done with it. I knew it would be fast and I trusted it,” said Vu who nearly gave up the game a few years ago.
“Everything happens for a reason, all the bad things I’ve struggled through. I had a tough past two days I was my own enemy and I don’t know how I pulled it out and I’m just really proud.”
There may be no Poppy’s Pond after the ANA Inspiration renamed itself as the Chevron and moved to The Woodlands, but Vu continued the tradition and took a dive into the green side pond in celebration.
A tradition like no other.
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