Lilia Vu wins Chevron Championship in playoff for first major

THE WOODLANDS, Texas — Lilia Vu birdied the first playoff hole to win her first major at the Chevron Championship after fellow American golfer Angel Yin hit her approach shot into the water on Sunday.

Yin's second shot came up short and left and splashed into the pond guarding the par-5 18th hole, and Vu hit her approach just over the green. Vu went with putter from off the green and came up well short, but she converted from about 10 feet for the victory.

The 25-year-old Californian won for the second time on the LPGA Tour and took a celebratory leap into the pond, a tradition borrowed from this tournament's former venue at Mission Hills in the California desert.

Vu birdied her last two holes for a 4-under 68 and a four-day total of 10-under 278 at Carlton Woods then waited as other contenders — including Yin — faltered.

But Yin, after bogeys on the 16th and 17th holes, birdied the 18th to force the playoff.

Vu played at UCLA but considered quitting the game after a rough start to her pro career. She regrouped and won three times on the developmental Epson Tour in 2021, then had a solid 2022 before breaking through in February with a victory at the Honda LPGA Thailand. She came into this event ranked 12th in the world; the 24-year-old Yin, who turned pro while still in high school, was No. 172.

Unable to find a sponsor willing to add to the half-century run at Mission Hills, the tournament — long known as the Dinah Shore for its longtime celebrity host — bolted the California desert for the woods of suburban Houston under a six-year deal with Chevron.

Winners had been jumping into Poppie's Pond off the 18th green at Mission Hills since 1988, and Vu continued the tradition by leaping off a small dock into murky water on