Lilia Vu wins three-way playoff at Meijer LPGA Classic

Lilia Vu birdied the third playoff hole to defeat Lexi Thompson and Australian Grace Kim and win the Meijer LPGA Classic on Sunday in Belmont, Mich.

Vu, Thompson and Kim all finished at 16-under 272 after 72 holes at Blythefield Country Club. After they replayed the par-5 18th hole twice, with each player making birdie both times, the trio went to the par-5 fourth hole.

Vu was the only player to put her drive in the fairway, and Thompson and Kim could merely punch out for their second shots. Vu's second shot landed in a greenside bunker, but she escaped and left herself roughly 6 feet for birdie. After her competitors missed longer birdie tries, Vu sank her putt to claim her fifth career LPGA win and her first of 2024.

"I just couldn't believe it," Vu said. "I couldn't believe I won this week. I think I was setting my bar really low so that I could meet it. I think because I tend to get in my own way when I'm trying to win, that's when I don't win most of the time, so just trying to stay in my lane, take advantage of all the good shots, and make all the birdie putts that I get.

Kim started the day with a five-shot lead but squandered it by shooting a 1-over 73 while her competitors closed in.

Vu entered Sunday eight shots off Kim's lead but shot a bogey-free, 7-under 65 to make her way back into contention. The eight-stroke rally was one shot larger than last week's seven-shot comeback win by Linnea Strom of Sweden at the ShopRite LPGA Classic.

Vu's 65 -- with four birdies over her final six holes -- was the low round of the day and set the 16-under mark early. Thompson birdied the 18th to shoot 68 and tie Vu, and Kim made one birdie and eight pars on her back nine, missing opportunities to surpass 16 under.

"It was so fast," Vu said of the waiting period between her round and the playoff. "I kind of just knew I needed to go eat and stretch again and warm up on the range again, just see how it all played out.

"And then I've been in this position before in playoffs and I was just trying to do what I could do. We were all playing so well. We get to 4 and I hit a good drive and it was one of the only times I could go for the green. Ended up in the bunker and made up and down, and somehow I'm here with the trophy."

Vu won four times in 2023, including two majors, but she missed last month's U.S. Women's Open while fighting a back injury.

"It's hard to feel 100 percent, but I think I've been 95 percent and I think obviously I played more than 18 holes today, so kind of feeling a little tight," Vu said. "It's all good. It's not the same as before."

Thompson -- the 11-time LPGA Tour winner who announced last month that she will retire from full-time competition at season's end -- came up just short of ending her five-year title drought.

"Knowing I was five shots behind starting the day I knew I had to have the pedal down and make a lot of birdies from the jump," Thompson said. "I can only control what I can control, so I just tried to focus one shot at a time and play within myself and my emotions. That's all I could do. Whatever happens with the result happened, so happy with the result."

Then there was Kim, who was disappointed in the lost lead but proud of how she played against two of the best female golfers in the world.

"I think going the three playoff holes with the Player of the Year last year, two major (championships) and obviously Lexi just being an icon for women's golf says a lot about my game, I guess," Kim said.

Ally Ewing had a string of four straight birdies on her front nine and briefly touched 17 under for the tournament. But a bogey-bogey-birdie finish to her round knocked her out of contention.

"I had a chance to make (an eagle) on the last hole to potentially force a playoff, which now we know would've forced a playoff," Ewing said. "And at the end of the day that's what you compete for, a chance to win the golf tournament."

Allisen Corpuz and South Korea's Narin An both shot 2-under 70 and tied for fifth at 14 under. An bogeyed two of her final three holes to drop out of the playoff hunt.