Team USA golfer Lilia Vu's amazing family story explains why Olympics mean so much
France – Golfer Lilia Vu knows her Olympic why. Her cause for personal motivation might be the best of anyone representing Team USA at these Paris Games.
“I'm playing for my country that kind of saved my family when we needed to on the boat,” Vu said. “So I'm playing for more than just me. I'm trying to give back to my country and earn them a medal.”
A magnificent story is behind those words.
Vu told it publicly to LPGA.com in 2022 and then to Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols last year after winning the Chevron Championship: In 1982, Vu’s grandparents, mother and other family members and friends escaped Vietnam in a boat that Vu’s grandfather had built by hand. A couple of days into the journey, the boat started leaking and wasn’t going to make it. A nearby U.S. Nay ship, the USS Brewton, fortunately saw a flare and rescued 82 people on board.