At a place like Maketewah Country Club, confidence can disappear fast.

Fairways feel impossibly narrow. Tee shots that look perfect in the air can bounce into thick rough. Wind shifts from hole to hole. Some sections of the course climb uphill while others flatten out completely, creating the kind of visual uncertainty that forces players to stay mentally locked in for all 18 holes.

That’s exactly why Thursday mattered so much for Lilia Vu.

Not because she shot 3-under-par 67 in the opening round of the Kroger Queen City Championship. Not because she sits tied for fourth entering Friday.

But because somewhere late in the round, the two-time major champion finally started trusting herself again.

“I think I just started to trust my game a little better,” Vu said after the round. “I know this course is tough. It’s hard to hit the fairway. Sometimes you just need a little bit of luck to get there.”

That trust showed up on the 17th hole, and it may have changed the entire feel of her tournament.

The shot that changed Vu’s round

Through most of Thursday, Maketewah looked exactly like the kind of course that frustrates elite players.

Good swings weren’t always rewarded. Conservative approaches still carried danger. Even the LPGA’s best ball-strikers spent large portions of the afternoon scrambling to survive awkward lies and uneven terrain.

Vu was playing solid golf, but not necessarily aggressive golf. Then came the par-4 17th.

She pushed her drive just into the rough, barely missing the fairway by a foot. On most courses, that might not matter much. At Maketewah, it changes everything.

Instead of playing safe, Vu attacked.

Her approach settled within three feet of the pin, leading to a birdie that completely shifted her mindset.

“Figured, okay, I can birdie from the rough if I need to,” Vu said. “I think that kind of propelled me and gave me some confidence moving into the other nine.”

That’s the hidden battle happening this week in Cincinnati. Players aren’t just competing against the field. They’re negotiating with the golf course itself.

And right now, Maketewah is winning plenty of those arguments.

Maketewah has become the star of the tournament

The LPGA Tour visits new venues every year, but not every course immediately develops an identity.

Maketewah already has one.

Players spent most of Thursday describing it as quirky, difficult, demanding, and mentally exhausting. Some holes reward creativity. Others punish even slight misses. The greens feature subtle movement and awkward slopes that make putting feel uncomfortable all day.

The rough has been especially brutal.

Vu compared the setup to Sharon Heights Golf and Country Club, emphasizing how quickly solid drives can become recovery situations because of firm fairways and unpredictable bounces.

That’s created a tournament where emotional control may matter more than raw scoring ability.

“I kind of like it,” Vu admitted. “It’s so tough to the point that you kind of have to think about the shot in front of you, and that’s the style of golf I love the most.”