MEIJER LPGA CLASSIC

June 11, 2024

Lilia Vu

Blythefield Country Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: All right, hello and welcome back to the media center here at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give. Ten years here in the Grand Rapids area. Lilia Vu, happy to have you back here on the LPGA Tour.

Lilia, welcome back. I know it's been a little bit since we've seen you. How have the last few months gone for you.

LILIA VU: Yeah, definitely been a process. I kind of had to reevaluate my game and how my body moves. I think that was the most important thing, and it was kind of the best time to kind of work on my stability and compensation. Worked really hard over the past couple weeks getting that ready.

I feel a lot stronger. It's just the process of doing what I need to do. It's also you have to be aware and conscious during your swing, the way you're breathing, all that stuff.

I'm trying my best to, yeah, stick to the process this week and not care too much about the result, because I know my body is in a good place if I do what I need to do.

Q. What was it like preparing to come back to this event and get back into that competitive mindset?

LILIA VU: Yeah, I played a lot of nine-hole rounds. Yeah, definitely a little rusty. Tomorrow will be my first 18-hole round.

But I played nine today; didn't feel anything. Hopefully I'm good to go.

Q. What's it been like setting that process for yourself? Definitely something I think for the first time in your career you've had to manage and maintain in your own way.

LILIA VU: Yeah, I think I definitely look at golf in a different lens. I think I appreciate it more now than ever, just being able to play golf. I feel like -- you kind of take it for granted when you're not injured and you don't appreciate it.

Then you hit a wall and then you're not able to swing and play as much as you would want to and you hit pause. Then you have to be disciplined and get your things in order, and that's what I was trying to do the past couple weeks.

Q. Now that you're here we're getting ready for the Meijer Classic, just in general, have you gone out and done a lot of practice for this week or what's been your routine already?

LILIA VU: I think I've been pretty light this week with work. I've known -- I know this course pretty well. Played it two years ago; I think I did pretty okay.

Yeah, I trust my team around me. I just worry about myself and let him help me out basically on the course.

Q. First off, when you're warming up on days like today and tomorrow, what are you looking to see out of your game?

LILIA VU: I don't think so much out of my game that I'm looking for. I have to be very conscious about how my body is feeling.

So I kind of have the same stretch, activation warmup, and once I know that I'm good, it translates over on to my golf. So that's more important right now than seeing the flight I want or hitting the distance I want.

So that's what I have been more focused on.

Q. You said you played this course two years ago. With your experience, what do you think it will take to win this week?

LILIA VU: Definitely good ball striking. The rough is pretty thick out here. The greens are good, they're tricky. All around you have to have every part of your game out here.

Q. Are you still on your Olympic journey or still trying to make it to Paris or have you qualified for Paris yet?

LILIA VU: I'm not sure. I'm just kind of doing what I can right now. Would love the opportunity to represent Team USA, but, yeah, just going to do what I can right now.

Q. Welcome back, Lilia. So first of all, am I understanding that you've made some adjustments to your swing because of your back? Is that what you were saying? Or is it for stretching and things to protect it?

LILIA VU: I don't think it's really technical. It's just kind of being more conscious about the way I'm breathing, breathing -- almost lower belly breathing. Just little thing like that. The way I sit, the way I lay, the way I stand, the way I walk, everything has to be more conscious.

I know my patterns. I kind of -- I don't want to get so technical with it because it's just going to bore everybody. I escape on my right hip, and so trying to breathe through that hip more. Little stuff like that.

It's not too difficult. It's just feels weird to me. But I should be okay. It's definitely an adjustment.

Q. So it sounds like a conscious effort you're having to think about throughout the day every day.

LILIA VU: Yeah, just because I've been kind of living in that compensation for a while, so it adds up. Then one day I'm tight and my body is angry and it blows up.

So it's peeling the layers the onion and getting more stable overall to help me swing with no pain.

Q. You were talking about how it's changed your perspective having this time off. Did you watch any golf? Did you watch the U.S. Women's Open or do you just shut it out?

LILIA VU: I did watch some of the U.S. Open, but I was also trying to play and practice during that weekend, too. I did see how difficult it was and it was really cool to see Yuka win.

Q. Was it hard to see it going on without you?

LILIA VU: It is and isn't, because I knew if I was there I would be not where I need to be to play a U.S. Women's Open, and I made a lot of progress during that week, so I wasn't too bummed out about not being there in it the really tough conditions.

Q. Have you changed your team at all or is it just the same folks helping you with new information?

LILIA VU: Yeah, it's the same folks with new information. It's on me to be way more disciplined. They've been telling me, but that was the perfect time to make these changes. Because when you're really good you don't want to change anything.

So that was the time to do it.

Q. I know you have an exciting summer, just that quest for Olympics. Not only that, but we're getting closer and closer to Solheim Cup around the corner as well. What's it like now? Is it very exciting this time to be coming back at this part of the summer just knowing what's ahead, what the LPGA has to offer?

LILIA VU: Yeah, we have a really good schedule coming up. I think not only that, it's on U.S. soil this year, so it's super exciting. I know the fans are going to come out blazing hot for us, so it'll be fun to experience that for the first time on U.S. soil.

Q. We've talked about in the past about the ups and downs of your career heading into 2023, what really made you appreciate golf. In the last couple months, have you leaned on anyone other than your team, other players or people to get advice from to navigate a challenge of the season?

LILIA VU: Not so much. I think I've just kind of relied on my support system at home. Yeah, everybody has been so supportive of me. It's tough not to get emotional because people want me back out here and they really care about me, so it's been really cool to see the support.

Q. Just being able to kind of use also this week as a test for the majors coming up as well, what does a week like this help you do in the weeks that are to come?

LILIA VU: I think since it's not an entirely easy course, it's pretty demanding off the tee kind of gives you a shock, like, hey, it's going to be narrow out here. It really pays to hit the fairways out here. I'm sure Sahalee is going to be the same thing.

I haven't been there, but just looks tree-lined all the way through.

Q. I was going to say, when you're planning for some of these major courses we have coming up, I feel like so many people have seen St Andrews and you've been to Evian before, but for a course like Sahalee that you haven't been to, are you doing any extra prep work or is that a Cole mission?

LILIA VU: I think that's for Cole. I think me, I'm just going to stick to my process. I think it kind of helps me when I'll just control the things that I can control, and everyone else can help me out along the way.