by Claire Pritchard
Lilia Vu (’15) started playing golf nine years ago, when she used to watch her older brother Andre play and decided one day to try the sport.
Her efforts paid off – Vu has recently committed to UCLA.
“This year I’m not playing for the team because I have to focus on SAT and grades ‘cause junior year is the toughest year,” stated Vu.
Vu doesn’t let her schoolwork completely hinder her from following her dreams of golfing, however.
“I go to tournaments with my parents… I practice on my own.”
Vu stated that UCLA has been her dream from the start. “The coaches come to basically all the junior tournaments to look for who they want.
“I’ve been wanting to go to UCLA so I visited their school and she said that I was one of her top priorities and…two weeks ago…she called me and asked me if I wanted to go play for their team and of course I said yes because it’s my dream school.”
Vu said that she was overwhelmed when asked, but extremely excited as well about the new atmosphere and growing competition of college golf.
“I don’t think it’s going to be that different from high school golf because you’re still on a team, but I think it’s going to be a lot more competitive because it’s…another level of golf ‘cause everyone’s really good.”
Vu recently competed in the Polo Invitational, which is a nine-day tournament with two practice rounds, two qualifying matches, and as many other rounds to eliminate everyone but the top player.
