Historical landmark for Vietnamese golfers
On August 13, 25-year-old Vu finished first at the Women's Open 2023 with a final score of -14 and dropped six strokes from the runner-up. On the same day she won the second most prestigious cup of her career, she topped the world professional women's golf rankings - Rolex Rankings, pushing compatriot Nelly Korda down to second. This is the first time Rolex Rankings has recorded two American faces first and second since its launch in 2006.
"Achieving the status of the best golfer in the world makes me insanely happy, especially when comparing the current performance with the difficult performance of the past few months," Vu said on ESPN on August 14. She entered the LPGA Tour 2023 season from February, won five tournaments in two months and all finished in the top 15, including winning the first cup in the US first-class women's golf arena at Honda LPGA Thailand.
The second car in the hands of Vu belongs to the prestigious group, at the Chevron Championship in April. Thanks to this major win, she is fourth in the Rolex Rankings. But then she entered a "hard period" when she fought seven tournaments and was eliminated four times, and her best result was 17th place at the pit tournament in May. That streak of results pushed Vu down to No. six Rolex Rankings, before she leapt to the top by holding the recent Women's Open.
In the world professional golf rankings, the men's group (OWGR) was born in 1986, the women's group (Rolex Rankings) since 2006.
Both of these tables, from the year of their debut until now, have recorded a total of 45 Vietnamese-born factors, in which notable faces, besides Vu who just reached the top, include Brianna Do of American nationality on Rolex Rankings, Tran Le Duy Nhat and Truong Chi Quan are both Vietnamese citizens on OWGR. However, considering the highest position in his career, Do only reached level 249 in 2018, Duy Nhat reached level 644, and Chi Quan reached 1708.
Currently, Do is ranked 545th while Duy Nhat and Chi Quan are both outside the top 2000. Due to being born in 1990, entered the LPGA Tour eight years before Vu, but every season struggles to keep the spot.
