By Carey Van Lue

AIG Women’s Open

Walton Heath Golf Club | Surrey, England | August 10-13, 2023

Final-Round Notes

August 13, 2023

Course Setup: 35-37–72; 6706 yards

Scoring Average: R1: 73.541; R2: 73.366; R3: 73.233; R4: 73.457

Weather: Cloudy with occasional bright and sunny spells throughout the day; Temperatures in the low 70s

with 09-15 mph winds gusting up to 17-20 mph

Race to CME Globe Points: 650 points (winner)

Purse: $9 million ($1,350,000 winner’s check)

TV/Streaming Times: How to Watch

A LOOK AT THE WINNER

Rolex Rankings No. 6 Lilia Vu

• Vu hit 11 of 15 fairways and 13 of 18 greens with just 25 putts during the fourth round, the least in the field
  • Her 5-under 67 tied the lowest round of the day during both the third and fourth
  • She made six birdies during the fourth round on Nos. 2, 9, 10, 12, 16 and 18
  • She had one bogey on the card on Sunday
  • She made the least amount of bogeys in the field with just five total in four rounds
  • She also tied for the most birdies in the field with 19, along with Amy Yang
• Vu’s margin of victory of six strokes is the biggest in AIG Women’s Open history since Jiyai Shin won by nine strokes in 2012 at Royal Liverpool.
• Vu trailed by six entering the third round, tying Se Ri Pak (2001) for the largest 36-hole comeback to win this championship since it became a major in 2001
• With her win, Vu is projected to move to No. 1 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf rankings
• She clinches the Rolex Annika Major Award, which recognizes the player who has the most outstanding record in all five major championships during the LPGA Tour season
  • She is the second American to win the award since its inception in 2014, joining Michelle Wie West (2014)
• She is the first American since Juli Inkster in 1999 to win two major championships in a single season
• Vu is the third player since the inception of the LPGA in 1950 to enter a year with no career LPGA wins, then go on to win multiple majors that season
  • The others to do it are Se Ri Pak (1998) and Meg Mallon (1991)
• She is the fourth American to win the AIG Women’s Open since it became as major in 2001, joining Mo Martin (2014), Stacy Lewis (2013) and Sherri Steinhauer (2006)
• She becomes the second player to earn at least three victories on Tour this season, joining Celine Boutier (LPGA Drive on Championship, The Amundi Evian Championship, FREED GROUP Women’s Scottish Open presented by Trust Golf)
• She surpasses the $3 million mark in career earnings ($3,442,155)
  • With the $1,350,000 winner’s check, she has made $2,519,386 in Official Money this season (73.2% of her Career earnings)
• This is the first time Vu has won after holding the 54-hole lead or co-lead
  • The only other time she held a third-round lead was at the 2022 Portland Classic, where she finished T3
• In her two previous wins this season, Vu came from behind to achieve victory
  • At the 2023 The Chevron Championship, Vu had a 4-stoke deficit after 54-holes and won in a playoff
  • At the 2023 Honda LPGA Thailand, Vu had a 6-stroke deficit heading into the final round and won
• This is her fifth start in an LPGA Tour major this season and second win
  • Her third- and fourth-round 67s are her lowest 18-hole scores in a 2023 LPGA Tour major
  • She also won the first major of the year, The Chevron Championship
  • She missed the cut at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and U.S. Women’s Open and finished T42 at The Amundi Evian Championship
• This is Vu’s second appearance at the AIG Women’s Open
  • In 2022, she finished T41
• This is her third season on the LPGA Tour
  • She became a Rolex First-Time Winner at the Honda LPGA Thailand and earned her second win at The Chevron Championship
  • She lost priority status on the LPGA Tour after her rookie season in 2019
    • She played on the Epson Tour in 2020 and 2021, where she earned three wins

THINGS TO KNOW

• Third-round co-leader Charley Hull finished solo second
  • This is her second runner-up finish at a major this season
    • She finished T2 at the U.S. Women’s Open
  • She has three total runner-up finishes in LPGA Tour majors, her best result
  • On Sunday, the Englishwoman had four birdies and one birdie on the card
    • Hull also had a chip-in eagle from the bunker on the par-5 No. 11
  • Hull is a two-time winner on the LPGA Tour and a three-time LET champion

• Two-time AIG Women’s Open champion Jiyai Shin finished solo third
  • She won the event in 2008 and 2012
  • She was one of three past champions to make the cut on Friday, including Anna Nordqvist and Georgia Hall
• Seventy-three players made the cut at +2 after 36-holes, including 17 major champions  
• England’s Charlotte Heath won the Smyth Salver award given to the low amateur player at the AIG Women’s Open
  • Heath finished +7 overall
  • Heath and  Julia Lopez Ramirez were the only two amateurs to make the cut
    • Ramirez finished +12
• For the first time this week, the par-4 No. 2 did not play as the hardest hole, it was the par-4 No. 4
  • The hole had a 4.397 scoring average during round four
  • Only 5 players made birdie on the hole on Sunday
  • There were 33 bogeys or worse on No. 4 during the fourth round and 36 birdies
• This week’s Aon Risk Reward Challenge hole, the par-5 16th, played the easiest with a total scoring average of 4.322
  • On Sunday, the scoring average was 4.397
  • One eagle and 45 birdies were made there on Sunday

QUOTABLE
“2019, my rookie year was really hard for me. I just put a lot of pressure on myself to perform really well and I would just get down on myself when I didn’t. And then a lot of things, I just went back down to Symetra Tour and I couldn’t even contend there. I was almost dead last at every event. I wanted to put the clubs away and maybe do something else, but my mom, she always told me I was good enough have to compete out here and be the best. She’s really my rock and the reason why I’m here.” – Lilia Vu on the low points of her career

“(Lilia) played unbelievable, really. And I just don’t feel like I got a break to be fair, starting from the first hole, I hit a good putt. And then yeah just felt like from 5, I lipped-out. It was a death lipout all the way around the hole, and I just didn’t feel anything went my way, even some lies that I had and I was just running out of steam at the end… Yeah, it’s just annoying because this is my fourth second-place finish of the year and second second-place finish in a major. But I really feel like next year will be my time for me just because I’m going to really focus on working on that over this winter. I feel like I want to start tomorrow with my coach.” – Charley Hull on her final round and runner up finish

“Yeah, you know, I’m not playing here (on the LPGA) anymore, that’s why I play good without pressure, and now more enjoying my traveling. That’s why good results are following my good feeling.” – Jiyai Shin on her second top-three finish in a 2023 major championship

NOTABLE

Fourth Round Highlights | 2023 AIG Women’s Open

A Chat with Georgia Hall

A Chat with Dame Laura Davies

The R&A and AIG Extend AIG Women’s Open Partnership Through 2030

TOURNAMENT SCORING RECORDS (since becoming a major in 2001)

18 holes – 62, Minea Blomqvist, third round, 2004; Mirim Lee, first round, 2016

36 holes – 133, Caroline Masson, 2011; Mirim Lee, 2016; In-Kyung Kim, 2017

54 holes – 199, In-Kyung Kim, 2017; Ashleigh Buhai, 2022

72 holes – 269, Karen Stupples, 2004

COURTESY LPGA TOUR COMMUNICATIONS