8 professional wins! Five of them are coming off the LPGA Tour, including two major championships. Lilia Vu sure has proved herself over the years and continues to do so for her country at the Olympics. But none of it would have been possible had it not been for her family’s sacrifice. More specifically, her grandfather Dinh Du’s efforts, one of which dates back to the 1980s.

The golfer is all praise when it comes to her grandpa. “I think of my grandfather all the time,” divulged the LPGA Tour Pro, “He was a very quiet hard worker, he wouldn’t complain about anything… he just gets stuff done and I think I have the same thing.” With Vu raking in the many accolades she has till now, one can’t help but wonder about her mother’s father, who was and still is a source of inspiration for the athlete!

The legacy of Lilia Vu’s family

It was around 1980, five years after Saigon’s fall, when Vu’s grandfather Dinh Du and his wife Hongyen Dao decided to leave Vietnam, as per The Athletic. And so they started their preparations. Over the two years that followed, Dinh drove to Vũng Tàu on his Vespa to build his boat. He did so every day “like an ant,” by strapping each board to his two-wheeler in secrecy.

After days and months of struggle, the boat came into being as Lilia Vu’s grandfather added a 32-foot wooden hull, along with a top deck and an engine. Although he planned for 50 people, the local villagers urged him to give them a spot, causing him to plan for an additional 30 more. Then D-Day arrived on May 23, 1982. Darkness came. The family gathered. And Dinh turned to his children, including the future golfer’s mother, and said, “When I say go, you go. No looking back!” Well, they didn’t look back as 83 people packed themselves tightly onto the boat to Singapore.

As soon as the group set off on the boat powered by Dinh and the engine, two ‘công an’ vessels (the public security branch of the Vietnam People’s Armed Forces) sped behind them, only to lose the refugees’ sight later on. Soon, two days and three nights passed. Supplies ran low. But on the third night, the boat encountered a leak. Even though Vu’s grandfather tried his best, he couldn’t work the pump that he set aside for such an emergency. “I can’t fix it,” he realized. But give up; he didn’t, for Dinh reached for the distress signal and fired the flare into the air. Little did he know, that would save the group of people.

It was the time when the USS Brewton, home to 18 officers and 260 sailors, arrived in Subic Bay in a bid to join up with the USS Ranger. However, a flare over the horizon caught the sight of Capt. Owen C. Martin Jr., who woke up Capt. Robert K. Bolger. The captain sent two smaller vessels that spotted the group of people, including Lilia Vu’s grandfather and his family. From that moment on, they were declared refugees. They were then sent to Singapore on board the USS Fox, following which they were relocated to the US.

Vu’s family settles down in the U.S.

Soon after, Vu’s grandparents, along with their five children, settled down in Orange County, 30 miles south of LA. And as time passed, they became U.S. citizens and created families of their own. Kieu Thuy (Yvonne), Dinh’s daughter, was no different as she met Douglas Vu, her husband, and gave birth to two children, Lilia Vu, and Andre Vu, the former of whom would be forever inspired by this story!

The young golfer grew up to be a college All-American, not to mention the No. 1 ranked women’s amateur in the world. But she lost her touch as soon as she earned LPGA Tour status. She missed many cuts, and skepticism crept in. But all of it was washed away by her grandfather’s words and actions. “I’ve learned that if you want something, you have to go,” adds Lilia Vu while alluding to her hero grandpa. The result? She is now representing the U.S.A. at the Paris Olympics. Hats off to the LPGA Tour Pro, and more importantly, to her grandparents and his family, who took the leap of faith.