Vu Times Two: American Wins Second '23 Major
Vu Times Two: American Wins Second '23 Major
Megan Schofill captures the U.S. Women's Amateur at Bel Air. Plus, notes on both championships, the distance comment period's end, and a point on the Mickelson gambling claims.
Lilia Vu cruised around heathery old Walton Heath and made major championship history en route to winning the AIG Women’s Open by six over Charley Hull. The 25-year-old southern California native captured 2023’s first major at the Chevron, and with her bookend victory at the historic Herbert Fowler design, becomes the first American since Juli Inkster in 1999 to win two Grand Slam titles in one year.
“It feels surreal to have this kind of Sunday and come out with the win given the past couple of months and struggling with my game,” Vu said.
Vu’s finishes since her April triumph at The Golf Club at Carlton Woods: MC, MC, 17, MC, MC, T42, T35.
In posting a 14-under par winning total, the public course product of Orange County and UCLA becomes the ninth American champion of the Women’s Open and first since another UCLA product, Mo Martin in 2014.
Vu’s weekend dominance was also noteworthy: she recorded 14 birdies in her final 32 holes.
“I knew it was going to be difficult and if I was able to post a good score, I could move up pretty well,” Vu said after taking the $1.35 million winner’s check. “And I changed my mindset to just playing one shot at a time. It's the same thing every single time, but when I actually do that, it turns out really well.”
Hull was the lone player to push Vu Sunday, giving her home country a thrill by holing out for eagle from a seemingly impossible bunker lie at the par 5 11th. The eagle moved Hull to within three. But Vu answered with a strong iron shot at the 12th, then birdied the 16th and 18th for her sixth and seventh birdies of the windy round.
With the win Vu will move to No. 1 in the world.
“It's just been a crazy year for me,” Vu said. “Just doing pretty well at the beginning of the season and just hit a lull in the middle struggling. I thought at the U.S. Open after I played so bad I didn't know if I could ever win again.”
Vu has won majors than many of her more famous American counterparts and now will defend the AIG Women’s Open at the Old Course in 2024.
“I think I'm going to cry when I cross the bridge on 18, honestly.”
Lilia Vu By The Numbers
11 of 15 fairways
13 of 18 greens
25 putts (fewest in the field)
Final round 67 tied the lowest round of the day during both the third and fourth rounds
5 bogeys for the week (fewest in the field)
19 birdies (tied for most in the field with Amy Yang)
Six-stroke win is the largest margin of victory since Jiyai Shin won by nine in 2012 at Royal Liverpool.
Six stroke comeback after 36-holes ties the largest since the Women’s Open became a major in 2001 (Se Ri Pak, 2001).
Vu is the fourth American to win the Women’s Open since it became a major in 2001 (Mo Martin (2014), Stacy Lewis (2013) and Sherri Steinhauer (2006))
For more on Vu, check out The Quad’s chat with her following April’s Chevron win.
Schofill Captures U.S. Women’s Amateur At Bel-Air
On the eve of a 36-hole final with a chance to win the biggest title of her young career, Megan Schofill understandably took two hours to fall asleep Saturday night. Saying she was “super anxious” and “really nervous” all evening, the need for rest was not helped by boyfriend and caddie, C.J. Easley, whose Whoop alarm went off at 4 a.m. for the 9:45 a.m. tee time at Bel-Air.
“What was that noise?” she said to Easley in the wee hours. “That was a fight! I told him, ‘I’m not going back to sleep now.’ But it worked out!”
Fourteen hours later Schofill held the U.S. Women’s Amateur’s Robert Cox Trophy in hand following a 4&2 victory over Latanna Stone.
While she laughed about the lack of rest caused by her partner in life and golf, Schofill also credited Easley with her win. An Ole Miss college golfer in his own right, Easley was constantly in her ear with reminders of playing one shot at a time.
“He kept saying, ‘Regardless of the outcome, you’re still going to be the same person, your friends and family are going to love you. Without him on the bag none of this would happened.”
Schofill took control early and held off her friend, fellow Floridian and fellow SEC golfer Stone by attacking the pins and rarely missing a putt inside ten feet on Bel-Air’s deceptive, immaculately-groomed greens. While Stone was often much longer off the tee, she could not buy a putt Sunday before finally canning a long par effort at the Redanish 13th. But by then a balky calf injury and Schofill’s consistency made a four-down comeback unlikely.
Schofill, a senior at Auburn, then blasted a tee shot well up the canyon slope off Bel-Air’s par 5 14th tee.
“Honestly it was so bad, I thought, that’s a fluke,” Schofill said of her visual reaction shrugging off the freak tee ball and moments after receiving the Cox trophy from USGA President Fred Perpall. “It was like, sixty yards off line, so we’ve just got to throw that one out of the brain.”
Stone won the hole and Schofill admitted the 15th hole, a dogleg right with out of bounds down the side, became a much tougher tee shot. Stone blasted her drive down the middle but flubbed her approach, perhaps too worn down by pain and a week-long grind that required knocking off two former USGA champions and three of her former Curtis Cup teammates (Amari Avery, Rachel Kuehn and Rachel Heck).
Schofill overcame any doubts, hit the fairway and nailed her 165-yard six iron to eight feet to close out the match.
“It's definitely a dream come true,” said Schofill, playing her sixth U.S. Women’s Amateur. “I’m definitely still in shock. I can't put it into words the emotions I'm feeling. It's just such an honor to be able to say I won here this year.”
Typical of a U.S. Amateur or U.S. Women’s Amateur conducted over seven grueling days, the play can turn ragged by the weekend as players tire from their ninth or tenth time around the host course. But early in the week both Stone and Schofill looked to be playing on another level when paired or matched against more accomplished rivals.
Throughout Sunday’s match, the two chatted amiably and things remained close through 15 holes of the morning until Schofill won the 15th, 16th and 17th holes to reach lunch with a 3-up lead.
“I felt like that was huge going into the second 18,” said Schofill, who will vault from her current 21st World Amateur Golf Ranking. She is also the oldest champion of the U.S. Women's Amateur since Marcy Newton (also age 22) in 2000.
So much for this being a young woman’s game.
It wasn’t until the late antics when the finalists ever seemed jittery or tired. That the finalists carried the sharp play into Sunday was an accomplishment given Stone’s injury and Schofill’s equally tough bracket to reach Sunday’s final at Bel-Air. Even more refreshing: the players chatted throughout the round and other than the lost ball search at the 14th, referees Dave Podas (morning) and Kendra Graham (afternoon) were reduced to announcers overseeing to first rate players out for a Sunday match on a George Thomas design surrounded by some of the world’s most expensive real estate.
Saturday, Stone recorded birdies on six of the first 11 holes en route to defeating Heck, who just a day earlier made four birdies and no pars in defeating Catherine Rao. But in the wacky world of match play, Sunday’s 36-hole final saw Stone’s putter repeatedly let her down. Costly misses early into the afternoon session could not take advantage at the second and fourth holes when Schofill left the door open for a comeback.
“I feel like I'm always a really gritty match play player,” Schofill said. “I never get down on myself and I'm really persistent. Obviously this week proved a lot to myself. I was able to beat some really good talent.”
Also…
After watching a full week of golf I can (again) comfortably say the women have better etiquette, sportsmanship, attitudes and are more enjoyable to watch since they play a more relatable game. During the midday break of Sunday’s final, both competitors had the option to eat separately in a private space but chose to lunch along with the Bel-Air members, volunteers and other dignitaries in the club’s temporary clubhouse.
Watching golf played a course that meshed with modern women’s distances (and maybe even set up too short at times), reminded those in attendance how much more beautiful the sport is when the equipment, skill and architecture all come together. Overall the players were tested but never did the course need to be pushed in some silly way to remain relevant. Without the smoke and mirrors so often employed on the men’s side to maintain intrigue, the golf on display was more pure and a lot more satisfying to watch. It also helps that all of the women don’t walk up to their ball and beginning mashing the grass down behind it with their club!
As Bel-Air did in 2017 when serving as the U.S. Amateur co-host, the club stepped up as they did when Riviera member support was limited due to disdain for the aloof ownership. Despite not having their clubhouse reconstruction complete in time—it’s looking incredible and historically representative of the original rambling Spanish building—the club arranged an ideal setup with UCLA across the street. Players stayed at the Luskin Center (“the best hotel in the world” according to Bill Walton). There was free access for spectators, members and family members of players wanting to spectate and Masters-like prices for concessions. The club just gets it.
Bel-Air’s impeccable fairways and greens are the product of superintendent Justin DiPeppo, his top assistant Penny, and a small but devoted staff. Carts stayed off the course for ten days prior to an event and the club gave up its course for a total of nine days in the name of amateur golf. Based on the positive feedback from those watching Golf Channel’s east coast prime time shows, Bel-Air will reap the benefits of opening their doors and giving all who visit the impression that hosting the U.S. Women’s Amateur was a privilege. The club next hosts the 2026 Curtis Cup.
The USGA once again instituted a Model Local Rule “prohibiting the use of materials to help read line of play on putting green.” The G-12 MLR used at all amateur championships “prohibits the use of any written, printed, electronic or digital materials to help with reading the line of play for any stroke to be made from the putting greens.” Players could consult their notes up to the putting surface but in the interest of promoting green reading, skill and skill, the MLR prevented one more unnecessary layer that fails to make the game better. It was noticeable how much faster players were and since a stroke play scoring record was set and multiple matches saw players on pace to post a 65, it hardly seemed like the MLR in any way impeded players. Might it have even made them putt better?
The official comment period for the multi-year distance saga has concluded. With USGA folks on site at Bel-Air, naturally I tried to get a read on where things stand. But for legal and ethical reasons, the blue coat crowd remained mum on where things will go with regard to a possible rollback of the ball via a Model Local Rule where elite players use a ball tested under tighter parameters. However, I did sense the recently announced positions of the PGA Tour and PGA of America did not dent the resolve to do something in the name of what’s right for the sport. We’ll know in a few months.
An audio outage of 40 minutes on Thursday’s telecast was one thing for Golf Channel. But no drone shots (live or B-roll) over five days on the most drone-delicious course imaginable? Or showing “Golf Films” reruns Sunday morning instead of dipping into the last hour of the morning 18? In the entertainment capital of the world?