SOUTH BEND, Indiana —To paraphrase the late sports philosopher, Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra, it was Lilia Vu all over again in Sunday’s final round of the Symetra Tour’s $200,000 Four Winds Invitational at South Bend Country Club.
Vu, a former UCLA All-American and 2018 U.S. Curtis Cup team member and the tour’s leading money winner with two victories coming into this week, used a 60-yard chip-in for eagle 3 on the 495-yard, par-5 12th hole by railroad tracks to pull away to victory No. 3.
“I know it’s really important to hit the fairway on that hole so I have a good angle to the green,” Vu said. “I had 230 (yards) to the pin. The hole does play longer (into the wind) so I ended up just short on the fringe. My caddie (Don Bavaro) and I were thinking (the chip) was going to be left to right, but for some reason I wanted to hit it straight. Deep down, I wanted to make this chip because I was hearing the cheers (from the other holes). I hit the chip and it went in.”
Bavaro, a long-time professional caddie from Chicago who has been carrying Vu’s clubs the last two years, said the chip was hit hard and fortunately hit the flagstick and dropped for the eagle which gave Vu the lead for good.
“It was pretty assertive,” Vu quipped.
Vu then added a 33-foot birdie putt on the 388-yard, par-4 16th hole which plays over South Chain Lake and parred Nos. 17 and 18 to finish off her five-under 67 – her 11th straight sub-par round in Symetra Tour events – and a 12-under winning total of 204.
“I’ve just been trying to have fun; Don and I are a good team,” Vu said after finishing two strokes ahead of China’s 22-year-old Ruixin Liu, who closed with a 67 which included eight birdies, four on each nine, to offset three bogeys. Liu, who started the season with a pair of victories, earned $19.363 for second place and moved into second place with $95,281.
Third place at nine-under 207 went to Australia’s 23-year-old Robyn Choi, who closed with a round of 68 that included seven birdies and three bogeys. Choi earned $14,102 for her first Top 10 finish of the year. Last season, she finished three times in the Top 10, including a runner-up to Kim Kaufman at the Four Winds Invitational last September when it was held at Blackthorn.
Neither Liu nor Choi were made available to the local television and print media by tournament officials following their rounds.
Vu began the round in third place at seven-under 137 behind 29-year-old Demi Runas of Torrance, California, a Symetra journeywoman looking for her first-ever tour victory, and France’s 21-year-old Pauline Roussin-Bouchard, who was playing in her first tournament as a professional after giving up her amateur eligibility at the University of South Carolina. Runas started at nine-under and Roussin-Bouchard was one stroke back.
But both Runas and Roussin-Bouchard struggled from the start, opening the door for Choi, Liu and Vu to make up ground. Runas bogeyed four of her first six holes before righting herself with birdies at Nos. 7 and 8. She finished with a closing 75 that left her tied for eighth.
Roussin-Bouchard bogeyed three of her first five holes but countered with three birdies on the back nine to close with an even-par 72 and eight-under 208 total which left her tied for fourth with Sweden’s Elin Arvidsson, earning $9,906 for her first professional check.
Meanwhile, Vu began making her move after starting with four straight pars. She then birdied the par-5, 513-yard fifth that doglegs right around South Chain Lake, the first of three birdies on the front that helped her offset a bogey at No. 6.
“The course was super difficult today,” Vu said of South Bend Country Club, which got firmer each day of the tournament after Mother Nature dumped more than eight inches of rain on its turf. “The greens dried out pretty well. We had to really focus on hitting to the front yardage or short of the pins.”
Vu was tied at 9-under with Choi when she came to the 12th hole and made the shot of the day.
“I hit the chip, it went in, and the rest is history,” said Vu, who was as calm in the post-tournament interview as she seems to be on the golf course this year. “I think I keep telling myself there’s nothing you haven’t done already, and I just move forward.”
Vu has now won $140,607 in 14 events on the Symetra Tour this year thanks to the three victories and eight Top 10s. In her last five tournaments, she has finished tied for fourth at the Donald Ross Classic at downstate French Lick July 8; was third at the Danielle Downey Credit Union Classic outside Rochester, New York, July 15; won the Twin Bridges Classic in Albany, New York July 23; and finished tied for second at the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship in Battle Creek Aug. 6. Her other victory this season came at the Garden City Charity Classic in Kansas back on April 30.
In addition to Sunday’s victory, Vu also pocketed $8,000 in bonuses from the Pokagon Band of the Potawatomi, the event sponsor. That included a check for $5,000 for winning the Potawatomi Cup for accumulating the most points in the three tournaments sponsored by the Potawatomi Nation – the Island Resort Casino Championship in Harris, Michigan, last week’s FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship and the Four Winds Invitational.
Proceeds from the tournament benefit the Beacon Children’s Hospital.
FOUR WINDS INVITATIONAL RESULTS
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Results and money earnings after Sunday’s final round of the Symetra Tour’s $200,000 Four Winds Invitational played at the par-72, 6,430-yard South Bend Country Club.
204 (-12) $30,000 — Lilia Vu, Fountain Valley, Calif., 68-69-67.
206 (-10) $19.363 — Ruixin Liu, China, 71-68-67
207 (-9) $14,102 — Robyn Choi, Australia, 69-70-68
208 (-8) $9,906 — Elin Arvidsson, Sweden, 73-68-67; Pauline Roussin-Bouchard, France, 67-69-72
209 (-7) $6,707 — Savannah Vilaubi, Downey, Calif., 70-68-71; Kum-Kang Park, South Korea, 69-69-71
210 (-6) $4,546 — Haylee Rae Harford, Leavittsburg, Ohio, 70-72-68; Katelyn Dambaugh, Charleston, S.C., 69-72-69; Min-G Kim, South Korea, 71-68-71; Sophia Schubert, Oak Ridge, Tenn., 67-71-72; Demi Runas, Torrance, Calif., 67-68-75
211 (-5) $3,644 — Fatima Fernandez Cano, Spain, 70-68-73
212 (-4) $3,172 — Yaeeun Hong, South Korea, 72-72-68; Dorsey Addicks, Big Sky, Montana, 72-70-70; Soo Jin Lee, Australia, 72-69-71; Lauren Coughlin, Charlottesville, Va., 67-71-74
213 (-3) $2,707 — Karen Chung, Livingston, N.J., 71-74-68; Taylor Totland, Tinton Falls, N.J., 74-71-68; Amy Lee, Brea, Calif., 68-71-74
214 (-2) $2,366 — Hexi Yuan, China, 75-70-69; Sophie Hausmann, Germany, 72-73-69; Julie Aime, France, 71-71-72; Kendra Dalton, Poughquag, N.Y., 67-75-72; Lucy Li, Redwood Shores, Calif., 71-68-75
215 (-1) $2,060 — Linnea Johansson, Sweden, 73-71-71; Rachel Rohanna, Marianna, Pa., 72-72-71; Allie White, Lancaster, Ohio, 71-71-73
216 (E) $1,756 — Gabby Lemieux, Caldwell, Idaho, 72-73-71; Isi Gabsa, Germany, 68-74-74; Laura Restrepo, Panama, 73-68-75; Gigi Stoll, Beaverton, Ore., 66-75-75; Tess Hackworthy, Madison, Wis., 70-70-76; Fernanda Lira, Mexico, 69-73-74