After losing her LPGA Tour card in 2019, Lilia Vu spent two hard years on the Epson Tour to make a comeback to the professional circuit and fulfill her dream of becoming the best female golfer. But her journey was not easy at all, and that’s where her family comes into the picture. You see, Vu’s family knows what resilience is, and she has ingrained it through and through.

After the 1975 Vietnamese War started, Vu’s grandfather, Dinh Du, was in a scuffle with no basic necessities available for the family. Thus, after years, he decided to flee the country and started building a boat near the Vietnamese shoreline. Vu recalls the stories she had heard from her family that, at the time, he used to be away from home for months just to build the boat. The boat sailed in 1982 with 82 individuals, including her mother, Kieu Thuy, and her siblings, friends, and neighbors looking for a better future, Vu told LPGA Tour in 2022. 

After three days of staying afloat, things were looking grim, and that’s when Vu’s grandfather pushed the flare gun, and the U.S. Navy Ship, USS Newton, saved the people from there. Later, the Du settled in Orange County, South California, and started their new life. There, Thuy met Vu’s father, Douglas Vu, and the two welcomed Lilia Vu, one of the best woman pros in the world. So, is Lilia Vu Vietnamese? Ethnically, yes, but she is a proud Asian American and is honored that her country saved her family when they needed it the most.

The family settled down, and Vu’s father and elder brother started playing golf, and she started playing the game of golf at the age of seven. However, it was not until she was admitted to UCLA that she started taking golf seriously. In this journey, there came many hurdles, and in those times too, it was her grandfather’s teaching that came to guide her.

Lilia Vu talks about the last thing her grandfather told her

The 2023 season was the breakthrough year for Lilia Vu. She won four events, including the 2023 Chevron Championship and the AIG Women’s Open. But whenever a game would not go in her favor, the 2-time major winner would get down herself and get really frustrated. In these times, she would remember what her grandfather, Dinh Du, taught her.

In an interview, Vu expressed how massive her family has been for her and how she does most things for them. She said, “Everything comes from my family.” Talking about her grandfather and praising her, she said, “My grandfather was the most hard-working person. They believe in me the most, and everything I do is for them.” 

But Vu’s grandfather was not there to see her become the world no. 1 and garner all the success in the golf world. When he was hospitalized in March 2020, Vu remembered the last thing (before his demise) he told her: “He told me to play my best, try hard, and never give up.” And she never gave up, even after the back injury in the 2024 season forced her to take a three-month hiatus.

But when she returned to the Meijer LPGA Classic, she cruised for a victory it and proved that she also had the fighting spirit of her grandfather and was never going back down, despite how big the obstacles in her way would be!