How Did Lilia Vu’s ‘Hero’ Grandfather Pass Away? His Incredible Relationship With Team USA Golfer Unraveled

It was the 2023 Chevron Championship. Lilia Vu had just bested fellow American Angel Yin in a playoff to clinch the first-ever major title of her career and her second LPGA Tour win. However, she wouldn’t have thought of raking in such a feat back in 2020 after a disastrous start to her professional career. Moreover, that was the time when a formative figure in her life, the pro’s grandfather, Dinh Du, passed away.

Unfortunately, the professional’s grandpa passed away on March 9, 2020, at the beginning of COVID-19, as per CNN Sports. “Once I lost him at the beginning of COVID,” recounted Vu after locking the 2023 LPGA Tour’s Player of the Year award, “I think I just always keep him in the back of my mind and just trust myself and not give up.”

Her grandfather’s thoughts have helped her immensely on the greens. Interestingly, after turning professional in 2019, the golfer’s career took some kind of U-turn. She had been the top-ranked amateur in the world, not to mention a college All-American. But the ‘Lilia Vu’, after earning her LPGA Tour status, failed to make the cut in many events, causing her to lose the Tour card.

Then the pandemic hit. And Lilia Vu was set to play a low-level tournament in Florida. However, a call about her sick grandfather led her to visit him. “I told him that it was all too much, and I just… I didn’t have it,” said the golfer as she recounted her conversation with her grandfather. “I couldn’t figure out how to have fun anymore.”

The then-22-year-old didn’t, however, understand her grandfather’s response back then. He had asked her to stop worrying and focus on her game. Moreover, her grandpa also urged her to find joy in the sport and ignore everything else. Days later, although she did miss the cut in the Florida event, her return back home was greeted with the news of Dinh Du’s death. That moment made her understand fully the weight of her grandfather’s words. The words of a man who was nothing short of a hero!

Lilia Vu’s grandfather, a source of inspiration to the LPGA Tour Pro

Vu’s mother and her family had fled from a war-torn Vietnam back in 1982 and it was all thanks to her grandfather, Dinh Du. He had helped his family and many others flee from the country on a boat he made in secret over two years. The golfer’s grandpa then led the group of people to Singapore as he drove the vessel for two days and three nights on the sea. They were then rescued by USS Brewton, which sent them to Singapore and then relocated to America.

Recollecting the same, Vu said, “He didn’t get the family out of there because he wanted praise for it, He got them out of there because he had to get them out of there.” She also mentioned how “mind-blowing” it was to have happened, just so she could be on the level she is currently at. And what did she learn from her inspirational family member? “I’ve learned that if you want something, you have to go,” said the athlete. Well, her grandfather would surely be proud of where she is at right now—a two-time major champ and an Olympic star!