Lilia Vu Finds Her Confidence at Maketewah as Kroger Queen City Championship Turns Into a Grind

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.

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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.

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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.”

That quote says a lot about why Vu remains one of the most dangerous players in women’s golf when conditions get uncomfortable.

Some players dominate when courses become soft and vulnerable. Vu tends to thrive when tournaments turn into survival tests.

Wind. Thick rough. Firm landing areas. Recovery shots. Creativity.

That’s her kind of golf.

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Chella Choi survives the chaos to share the lead

While Vu found momentum late, Chella Choi spent most of Thursday looking like she might run away from the field.

Instead, Maketewah reminded everyone how quickly things can unravel.

Choi reached 6-under before a late stumble knocked her back into a three-way tie for the lead alongside Rio Takeda and Ina Yoon at 4-under 66.

The collapse started with a slip.

On the par-4 eighth, Choi lost her footing during a shot and recorded her first bogey of the day. Then another mistake followed on the par-3 ninth, where she failed to get up-and-down from a bunker.

Just like that, a potentially dominant opening round suddenly looked merely excellent.

Still, Choi’s reaction afterward mirrored almost everyone else in the field.

“Super hard golf course,” Choi said. “Fairways very narrow and the green is ... green in not flag, like so many bumps here.”

That sentence may end up becoming the unofficial summary of the entire tournament.

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Nelly Korda keeps hanging around

The scariest part for the rest of the field?

Nelly Korda didn’t even play her best golf Thursday, and she’s still right there.

Korda opened with a 1-under 69 while chasing her third consecutive tournament victory after wins at The Chevron Championship and the LPGA stop in Mexico.

The round itself was remarkably uneventful by Korda standards. Fifteen pars. Two birdies. One bogey.

No fireworks. No dominant stretches.

Just steady pressure.

That’s become the terrifying reality of Korda’s current run. Even on days when she doesn’t appear fully comfortable, she rarely drifts away from contention.

Meanwhile, Jeeno Thitikul reached the same score in the exact opposite fashion.

Fresh off her win at the Mizuho Americas Open, Thitikul carded seven birdies and six bogeys in one of the wildest rounds of the afternoon.

Only five pars.

That stat alone perfectly captures how unpredictable Maketewah has been.

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Lydia Ko’s perspective says everything about this era of women’s golf

One of the best moments Thursday didn’t happen with a golf shot.

It happened with perspective.

Lydia Ko played alongside Korda and Thitikul, currently ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the world. After the round, Ko openly reflected on just how dominant the pair has become.

“Somebody asked me who I was playing and I was like, ‘I'm playing with 1 and 2, and they're almost like 1 and 1,’” Ko said.

That line landed because it feels true.

Korda has been nearly untouchable this season. Thitikul consistently places herself near the top of leaderboards. Together, they’ve created a weekly expectation that one of them will be part of the story entering Sunday.

Ko praised Thitikul’s consistency and pointed out the absurd standard Korda has maintained all year.

“Nelly hasn't finished worse than second place this year,” Ko added.

That’s the backdrop Vu is now chasing.

Not just a difficult golf course. Not just a crowded leaderboard. But a women’s golf landscape currently controlled by multiple elite stars playing at historically high levels.

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Why Vu feels dangerous heading into Friday

The leaderboard remains packed. Conditions are expected to stay difficult. Wind should continue influencing club selection and strategy throughout the weekend.

All of that matters.

But confidence matters more.

Vu didn’t leave Thursday talking about mechanics. She didn’t sound overly concerned with swing thoughts or technical fixes. Instead, she sounded like a player rediscovering trust in her instincts.

That can become extremely dangerous on hard golf courses.

Because when scoring conditions worsen, hesitation usually becomes the biggest mistake a player can make.

Vu spent Thursday proving to herself that she can still attack Maketewah even when the course pushes back. That realization may end up mattering more than the 67 itself.

At some point this weekend, the tournament will likely become messy. Someone will hit a great shot that catches a terrible bounce. Someone else will save par from an impossible lie. Momentum will shift quickly.

And when that moment arrives, Vu now has a reminder tucked away in the back of her mind:

If she can make birdie from the rough on one of the toughest holes on the course, she can contend from anywhere.

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