“I just feel very free” - Lilia Vu on playing at the CME Group Tour Championship after her busy Day 1 schedule due to the Rolex LPGA Awards

After having a hectic schedule on the first day of the 2023 CME Group Championship, Lilia Vu finally got back in the game and scored 66 on Friday and jumped in 22 positions to settle in a tie for tenth place.

Vu was awarded the Annika Award for the best major record this year at the 2023 Rolex LPGA Awards on Thursday. After finishing the first round of the CME Group Championship, she rushed to the award ceremony before finally playing in the second round on Friday.

Vu carded a 2-over par 70 in the tournament's first round on Thursday before hitting 66 on Friday. Speaking about her game in a conversation with the media, Vu admitted that she was more free playing golf in the second round.

She said as quoted by Golf Week:

“I think when I have nothing else to worry about, I’m very clear and I know what shot I want to do or hit, where to be and where to place myself,” she said. “I just feel very free.”

Lilia Vu also pointed out the difference in her game in both rounds and said:

“Today, I had more focus. I think I just had a lot of things on my mind yesterday with so much going on. I think I was just trying to find my way through the front nine yesterday. Today, I felt more comfortable on the course. Gave myself a lot of opportunities for birdies. Ball striking was really good on the back nine.”

The 2023 CME Group Tour Championship is underway at the Tiburon Golf Club. The tournament started with the first round on November 16 and will have its finale on Sunday, November 19. Following the two rounds of the tournament, Alison Lee topped the leaderboard in a tie with Nasa Hataoka.

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Lilia Vu's performance at the 2023 CME Group Tour Championship

In the first round of the tournament on Thursday, November 16, Lilia Vu made four birdies and two bogeys to score 70. She started the game with two back-to-back birdies on the fourth and fifth holes and added two bogeys on the ninth and tenth holes. She made two more birdies on the back nine to score 70.

In the second round of the tournament, Vu started with a birdie on the second hole. She made two birdies on the front nine and five on the back along with one bogey and finished in a tie for tenth place with Brooke Henderson, Nelly Korda, Gaby Lopez, Hyo Joo Kim and Anna Nordqvist.

Alison Lee played two rounds of 66 and 64 to top the leaderboard with Nasa Hataoka, who scored 63 and 67 in the two rounds. Amy Yang scored 63 in the second round and jumped 10 positions to finish in a tie for third place with Minjee Lee and Ruoning Yin.