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laying up golf podcast my name is randy

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episode uh... we have a great one it

1:59

is It's timely, it's what

2:02

I'm very excited about. Let me first introduce

2:04

my associate, Mr. Cody McBride.

2:07

Hello, Cody, how are you today? Big, thank

2:09

you so much. It's a great day today,

2:12

happy to be here with you. Wonderful, we are

2:14

recording on location. We're at

2:17

TPC Harding Park, just ahead

2:19

of the International Crown. It's

2:21

the return of the International Crown, and

2:24

with us is two-time LPGA

2:27

Tour winner, and now major

2:29

champion coming off her Chevron

2:32

Championship victory.

2:33

Lilia Vu, Lilia, how

2:36

does major champion suit you? It's

2:38

unreal, to be honest. Just couldn't

2:41

believe that I won the Chevron Championship. It took

2:43

a while for it to all sink in, maybe

2:45

just sunk in now. Didn't

2:47

really feel in that tournament until the

2:50

very end, and then all of a sudden finished

2:52

17-18 really well, and then I'm

2:54

in a position for a playoff, and everything

2:57

was just so fast from there. We waited

3:00

until Angel hit her 17th shot, and

3:02

then we headed up to the range to

3:04

get warmed up again, and then now we're

3:06

here.

3:07

I was gonna ask, because I think

3:09

you started the fourth round four

3:12

shots back, and so it

3:15

was kind of like, were

3:17

you thinking of a number? Did you kind

3:19

of think, hey, if I go out and really pin my

3:22

ears back, I might have a shot, but I wonder what's

3:24

your mentality going into that final round?

3:25

I think going into it, there were a

3:28

lot of people around, 10 under, 9

3:30

under, 8 under,

3:32

all over the place, so whoever was

3:34

gonna shoot the lowest or play the best that day was

3:36

gonna end up winning, and I did

3:39

it in Honda. I shot 8 under

3:41

the last day. I don't know what I was thinking, probably

3:43

didn't think at all, and came from behind in

3:45

one, so going into it, I knew Sunday

3:47

was colder, super windy,

3:51

and my thought process was, I'm just gonna go

3:53

out there and try to birdie every hole and play my best.

3:55

It was a day to move up the leaderboard.

3:58

For sure, I mean, gosh. Cody,

4:00

a lot of places we can go with that. Let me ask you this, California

4:03

Girl was, how do you

4:05

like the cold weather? I mean, was that

4:07

okay for you? I typically don't

4:09

like cold weather while I want in hot and

4:12

cold now, but it was, I

4:14

think toward the beginning of the week, it was kind

4:17

of warm, but there was also thunder

4:19

and lightning and rain and delays and all

4:21

that stuff. And then you just kind of have

4:23

to adjust to that. Yeah, it

4:25

worked out pretty well, I would say.

4:27

We were chatting a little bit before we

4:29

hit record and you were saying

4:32

you like it when it gets difficult

4:34

out there. Can you go into kind

4:36

of why you like the course to be difficult, why

4:38

I imagine the condition's difficult, gives

4:41

you a real chance to separate yourself,

4:43

I imagine? Is that?

4:44

I think when the course is more difficult,

4:47

I'm able to focus more. I'm

4:49

more of a one-track mind, just one shot at

4:51

a time. And usually when I get

4:53

ahead of myself and I start thinking about other people

4:56

or the leaderboard, that's when I don't

4:58

play my best. And so when I'm just

5:00

very, what's in front of me, where my

5:02

feet are, I play my best. And I think when it's difficult,

5:05

it's easy to do that because you know it's gonna

5:07

be a grind. And so you just focus

5:09

on that one shot in front of you and just go

5:12

through your whole process.

5:13

So easy to say, right? Yeah.

5:16

It's a lot harder to actually do. So how do you stay

5:18

in the moment? And like, obviously it's a

5:20

big position, but how do you stay that

5:22

focused in the box and be

5:24

able to put that score together?

5:27

For me, I think I

5:29

kind of

5:30

wired my brain to think

5:32

every hole is

5:34

match play with the course. And I'm gonna try

5:36

and birdie that hole. If I don't birdie it,

5:38

that's okay. Move on, go to the next hole, try

5:40

it again. And when I think like

5:43

that, it really helps me because there's 18

5:45

opportunities to birdie. And that gives

5:47

me a lot of room to try and birdie. I

5:49

feel very free from it. And

5:51

I feel like that has helped me throughout

5:54

my struggle 2019 year and

5:57

then learning how to play golf again. And just

5:59

being one shot at the end. at a time. It's very cliche

6:01

and everybody says it, but when you actually

6:03

do it, or when I actually do it, it

6:06

helps me so much and it kind

6:08

of solves itself in the end.

6:09

You say it's cliche and

6:12

it always has been cliche

6:14

a little bit to me. I'm like, I hear people

6:16

say that and sure, we all, you know,

6:19

one shot at a time. We can't play two

6:21

shots at a time. But

6:23

I had a chance, something

6:25

else we did a

6:27

couple months ago, and I got a chance to meet

6:29

Pia and Lynn for the first

6:31

time. And their

6:33

whole, you know, mental game

6:36

and the process that they talk about in the three

6:38

boxes that Cody talked about,

6:41

and it really hit me for the first time is like,

6:44

oh, now I get it when people say like, no,

6:46

you have to take it one shot at a time

6:48

and you have to dedicate,

6:50

you know, energy and attention

6:54

and thought to, you know, what

6:56

you're doing. And it

6:58

was almost like this light bulb went on for me like, I'm,

7:01

we'll turn 40 this year. I'm like, oh my God, I've never

7:03

played golf like this in my life. Like,

7:06

it's, it's incredible. So now when I hear people

7:08

say I'm like, no, I understand what you mean, like one

7:10

shot at a time.

7:12

Stay within yourself. I mean, was that

7:14

something you like had to learn at some point?

7:18

So I went down to Pia and Lynn's

7:20

three day camp. I

7:22

think, like, towards the end

7:25

of 2019. And I

7:27

was in a horrible place with my

7:30

golf game, like just so nervous

7:32

over the ball. And so I went down there and

7:35

I learned all that stuff. But I wasn't

7:37

technically sound yet. So

7:39

I couldn't

7:40

basically use what I learned

7:43

to my advantage. And then

7:46

suddenly I just started

7:48

to get bits and pieces of my game back.

7:51

And I remember I reread her book,

7:54

or their book, Think Like a Player at

7:58

Garden City, Kansas. I

8:02

remember reading it the night before, or that whole

8:04

week, and I ended up winning that week. And

8:06

I only had two goals that week, and

8:11

I think it was just strong body language, and to say, I love this

8:13

shot before I actually hit the

8:15

ball. And so that, just like, nothing

8:17

to do with technique

8:20

or anything, all I did was just have

8:22

those two goals, and I ended

8:24

up winning that week. And from there, I just kept on learning

8:26

what works,

8:29

learning what worked and what didn't work, and what

8:31

I liked. And it was just all

8:33

the, basically,

8:36

examples that they had in the book. I just kind

8:38

of tried all of them and see what worked. And

8:41

yeah, I remember emailing them. I said, like,

8:43

this, it finally worked. Two years later,

8:46

everything that I learned is falling

8:48

in line.

8:49

Yeah, yeah. Do you ever,

8:51

have you thought about, in the

8:53

couple weeks since winning the Chevron,

8:56

was it almost a blessing to be kind of four shots

8:59

back and not

9:00

really kind of think that you're

9:02

in it? I mean, as far as trying

9:04

to win your first major, I feel like

9:06

getting in the clubhouse might be a little

9:09

bit of a blessing. And then, you know,

9:12

things happen and you find yourself in a

9:14

playoff. Do you think that's, I don't want

9:16

to say easier, but given the circumstances,

9:19

I mean, have you thought about

9:22

it playing out that way, opposed

9:24

to, you know, trying to hold on to

9:26

a three shot lead at the start of the day?

9:28

Yeah, I mean, both of my

9:30

wins, I came from behind. I think I

9:32

was just very free to

9:35

just

9:35

go out there. You haven't won yet. Just

9:38

go out there and play your best, and if you win, you win. But

9:40

I also remember in Thailand,

9:44

I thought, I was doing an interview and I told

9:46

her,

9:47

even though, I think I was maybe

9:50

close to the lead or leading after second

9:53

day, or maybe like first day, I

9:55

was near the top. But I remember saying,

9:58

like, I didn't win the tournament yet.

9:59

Even if I'm leading, it doesn't matter, I haven't won

10:02

it. So I'm just gonna go out there and play

10:04

my best. Because you get so caught up

10:06

with your leading, and then you'll

10:08

end up messing up, but you never have the tournament

10:11

because it's not done until the four rounds are

10:13

over. So I think I was more, from

10:15

what I think, it's just even if I'm leading,

10:17

I'll never think that I've already won the tournament. And

10:19

I'm just gonna go out there and play

10:22

my game, play the best that I could.

10:24

We're like 10 minutes into this code of

10:26

year, not even, and I'm like, in awe of your

10:29

mental approach. I'm sitting

10:31

here thinking, I'm like, you said, oh, I've never

10:33

played golf like that in my 40 years of life. And

10:36

then I'm hearing everything that you said, I'm thinking

10:38

about my game, I'm like, huh, I'm a

10:40

long ways up. I'm not thinking of anything

10:42

the right way. I have so many swing thoughts.

10:47

It's

10:47

insane. Oh, I know nothing about the golf game either, so

10:49

I just go out there and play. Do you know what different

10:51

types of graphs there are out there? Well,

10:54

I thought Poa Grass was

10:56

Bermuda last week. It happens to the best

10:58

of us. Yeah, not a clue. I

11:00

just go wherever my caddy tells me to go,

11:03

honestly. It's like a funny like,

11:05

oh, okay, you don't know the different types

11:07

of grasses and stuff like that. But you're

11:10

very, very decorated, obviously professional

11:12

golfer now. You're a very decorated

11:14

amateur golfer and have an incredible career.

11:17

And you think about it and you're like,

11:19

your ability to just be like, play

11:21

a shot at a time. Oh, cool.

11:24

So we're putting in, it's different type of grasses and that's

11:26

cool and all, but I'm still just going to make the

11:28

best stroke that I can to

11:30

the line that I think is best that I've talked

11:32

to with my caddy or whoever else and

11:34

just see,

11:35

watch the ball go in the hole. And

11:38

it's so easy when you break it down like

11:40

that, but I know it's not. And

11:43

sitting here, I think what I'm going

11:45

to get to is sitting here now as a major champion,

11:49

like if we had this conversation in 2018, 2019, when times

11:51

like were hard, like what do

11:55

you think you would tell that person? Just

11:58

that not every shot is life. I

12:00

think I looked at golf in such a, just

12:03

a heavy way. I think

12:05

I put a lot of pressure on myself coming

12:08

out of college and being the number one

12:10

amateur and just not

12:13

having sponsors or agents. And

12:15

I just saw like everybody performing so

12:17

well. And I kind of compared myself

12:20

to those people in which

12:21

now it sounds so dumb because I've never compared

12:24

myself to anyone. When I was

12:26

playing my best, I mean, sorry, now

12:28

I'm playing my best, but just

12:30

like comparing myself, it's just not a good

12:33

head space and just go out there and have fun. I

12:35

play my best when I have fun

12:37

and I'm laughing on the golf course and just

12:40

having a good time and appreciating golf and

12:42

like what it's done for me and my family

12:44

and just all the people I meet, all the countries

12:47

I go to, all the friends I make out on

12:49

tour, just everything

12:51

that it's

12:51

brought me. And I just think

12:54

being grateful for golf and having fun again

12:56

was something that I had to refind after

12:58

my rookie year.

13:00

Is like having fun playing golf

13:03

mean like playing your best all the time?

13:06

No, I feel like I

13:08

have to have fun before I play my best.

13:11

Cause if you always say

13:14

like, I

13:15

have to play my best and that's when I'm having fun,

13:18

that's just, you're never gonna have fun.

13:20

Cause now you're basically

13:23

basing your fun on your outcome. But

13:26

if, for me, if I have fun first, my

13:29

scores are gonna follow 100%.

13:31

But if you're only gonna have fun if you play well, then

13:34

what happens if you don't play well? You're gonna go home and

13:36

cry? Sometimes

13:38

I do. I mean, if you're asking. Well,

13:42

I think, you know, as part of the telecast,

13:45

Cody and I were watching on television

13:47

and you know, one of the big

13:50

things that the announcers talk about is that 2019

13:52

season and you

13:55

know, making one cut on tour

13:57

your rookie year. I mean, can you kind of,

13:59

to walk us through what

14:03

was going on and the

14:05

struggles that came your way

14:08

and more importantly and I think most

14:10

impressively, kind of how

14:12

you attacked them and how you got,

14:15

you know, developed this mindset and this outlook

14:18

and really set

14:20

you on the way to the

14:22

success that you're now enjoying. You

14:25

know, everything happens for a reason. I

14:27

think that struggle needed to

14:29

happen for me to be this mentally

14:31

strong and technically strong and just

14:35

the way I am now, just it,

14:37

that year happened so that I could grow

14:39

into

14:39

the person I am today. I think

14:41

that was more of a, I didn't know who

14:43

I was without golf and

14:46

so I based my whole identity around

14:48

golf and then once I was playing bad, I didn't know

14:50

who I was anymore and I was just losing all my marbles,

14:53

had no self-confidence, didn't

14:55

know

14:56

where I was going to hit the ball while I was staring

14:58

at it. Set up to the ball and I'm like, this

15:00

could go 100 yards left or 100 yards right. I

15:06

don't know. I don't know where my arms are. I can't

15:08

feel them. Basically just,

15:11

like I said, life or death, golf and

15:14

yeah, I mean that happened

15:16

so I could reevaluate my golf game and just

15:19

strengthen what needed to be strengthened.

15:21

Yeah, I just worked on myself a lot. I

15:23

mean,

15:24

COVID actually really helped me because

15:26

golf tournaments were on. Give you a little space?

15:29

Yeah, give me a little space. Just

15:31

put golf tournaments on hold for a little bit. Actually

15:34

it was really funny. I think at the beginning of

15:36

COVID, the

15:38

Chevron was happening and I was on the range

15:40

at my home club and this man

15:42

came up to me so blunt. He's like, what are you doing here?

15:45

Why aren't you competing

15:46

in Palm Springs? I said, well, I'm

15:48

going through like my slump. I

15:51

don't have any self confidence like this and that

15:53

and just giving him my whole story. And

15:55

then he gave me two books, Extraordinary

15:58

Golf by Fred Shoemaker.

15:59

the Slide Edge by Jeff Olson.

16:03

And it was basically

16:05

just mental side of golf for extraordinary

16:07

golf and just try to basically

16:10

fix my own game, just dealt

16:12

with a one side miss instead

16:14

of a two way miss and just trying

16:16

to over correct. And I think just finding

16:18

my golf game again, and I did that

16:21

for a little while with the time off I had from COVID.

16:23

And then the

16:25

Slide Edge is just 1% better every

16:27

day. So do something little to help you

16:29

get better

16:30

every single day. And that's something that I try

16:32

to do every day and still do it now. And

16:34

so just going from there and then tournaments started

16:37

happening and then just

16:40

did what Pia and Lynn basically

16:43

said and try to have fun on the golf course

16:45

and just go through my whole process. And

16:47

now we're here.

16:49

Well, you make it sound like it's a lot easier

16:51

than the path actually is. You

16:54

talked about being like number one amateur in the world

16:57

and then coming out and I think the

16:59

world in front of you. And you talked

17:01

about not having an agent and

17:03

thinking of sponsored deals and probably

17:06

looking for successes that you were

17:08

expecting to come and they didn't really

17:10

happen. When did you,

17:12

you just called it your slump. When

17:15

did you realize that this

17:18

isn't good? You've probably

17:20

gone through patches in the past where you're like, I'm

17:22

not playing very good, but don't worry, we're

17:24

gonna get through this. When was it like,

17:27

I need to make some changes here. This

17:29

ain't good. I think first off, it's just only

17:32

making one cut. My rookie year, that was

17:34

pretty big and then going

17:36

on

17:37

Epson Tour and also missing

17:40

those cuts. Wow, I can't even manage

17:43

myself out here shooting close

17:46

to 80, couldn't do anything. And then-

17:49

Were you by yourself at the time? No, my mom

17:51

was actually pushing my car and she's like, you're

17:53

good enough. And I'm like, I just shot 80, mom.

17:56

I hit every single tree and I made up and down for

17:58

double. And someone said that was the-

17:59

best up and down for double ever.

18:02

I made a 40 footer for a double. And

18:05

so just my mom

18:07

being a cheerleader and just believing

18:09

that I could make it back here, I mean, I

18:11

was ready to just quit golf. Go

18:14

to law school. What does that actually mean though? Like you seriously

18:17

thinking about, I'm not cut

18:19

out for the professional game, I'm gonna go back to school?

18:22

Yeah, I thought, okay, I'm gonna try

18:24

and study for the LSAT and just try to get

18:26

into law school and make something of my

18:29

political science degree. But thank

18:31

God I didn't. Well

18:33

if you wanna run some of those poli side takes,

18:35

we have another podcast with that that we welcome

18:37

them. No, I don't wanna be controversial.

18:40

I don't wanna get canceled, so. No, no, no, no, no,

18:42

no. That's our biggest fear too. We

18:45

don't wanna get canceled either. Everybody, Randy

18:47

here again. Sorry to interrupt the interview,

18:49

but one more sponsor to thank today

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my recovery scores were great. It was fun

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to kinda see the one day I took a surf lesson,

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had a big strain, and then I

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20:31

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20:32

Thank them for being a sponsor of the No Laying Up

20:34

podcast and now back to our interview with

20:36

Lilia Vu. Again, like I think it's one of those

20:38

things where like it doesn't matter how

20:41

you surround yourself with like your support

20:43

system and people helping you through it but like when

20:45

you realize like hey maybe this is

20:48

like the bottom of it and obviously

20:50

it's like the bottom of your golf

20:52

game or your professional golf game,

20:54

did it carry over into like normal life? Yeah

20:58

I think I was a very I was a very

21:00

angry daughter and I kind of just

21:02

had bad attitude to everybody. I pushed

21:05

all my friends away and just

21:08

didn't allow myself to have fun anymore and

21:10

just in college

21:12

I had fun all the time and I played so well and

21:14

so I just basically tried to find

21:17

that again and I think also

21:19

another thing I love being on a team

21:21

in college so I just always had fun and

21:24

so basically

21:26

creating in my own way my own team just

21:28

caddy, physio, coaches, all

21:31

that stuff, trainers

21:32

and just creating my own team. My mom's my assistant

21:35

so she comes along to every tournament just

21:37

creating my own team and it feels like

21:40

no matter what they have your back I think that's a

21:42

very like very good thing to

21:44

have out here especially on LPGA Tour. You're kind

21:47

of doing your own thing I mean everyone's

21:50

friends with everybody but you kind of want

21:52

to do your own thing and know that you have people around

21:54

you that you can trust.

21:54

Yeah what'd you tell your mom after

21:57

the playoff Chevron? I think she was just crying.

22:00

I wanted her to jump with me, but she was busy looking

22:03

for my dad, and I'm just like

22:09

The thought process obviously everybody made a big

22:11

deal about the the jump and like we're gonna

22:14

continue to this tradition and Everything

22:16

and then you kind of look at the pond and you're like like

22:18

it looks kind of greenish brown

22:22

alligators like Obviously

22:25

you had a very very good jump caddy Phenomenal

22:28

yeah, he's just a star probably

22:30

like one. He's just goaded. It

22:32

was incredible his performance

22:35

on it, but you know is it something

22:37

that obviously like

22:38

Yeah, you probably walk by and like a practice around

22:40

you're like I could probably do that like that's

22:42

fine That's what we did we were playing

22:44

the practice around and we looked at each other and we're like if

22:47

we win Are we gonna jump we both said yes,

22:49

and then

22:51

It was time and I was like it looks so musty

22:54

and I saw snake on 17 the previous hole okay,

22:58

and then we were in the we were waiting in the scoring

23:00

tent before the playoff and One

23:03

of the LPGA media girls asked me are

23:05

you gonna jump just just so we can like be

23:07

ready and then I said yeah We're gonna

23:09

jump right and then I turn a coal and I'm like are we gonna

23:11

jump he's like

23:13

It's cold, but yeah, and I'm like don't give us

23:15

that attitude like we're gonna do it if we win

23:18

What's it like waiting? In

23:21

the media tent or like were

23:23

you watching the golf? Do

23:26

you like to watch the golf in that situation

23:28

or is it like hey just kind of tell me what's

23:30

going on and tell me When I need to like go

23:33

warm up maybe on the range.

23:34

Well, I really didn't know what was happening

23:36

I didn't know there was like a TV right in front of my face I

23:38

didn't see it to be honest I was just like I just

23:41

need to be here They told me to stay in the tent like

23:43

I can't go anywhere cuz I wanted to go to the bathroom couldn't

23:45

go to the bathroom oh no, and then all

23:48

of a sudden like the scores are

23:50

changing and then

23:52

Cole just says like hey you want to go warm up when she hits

23:54

her t-shirt on 17 I said yeah,

23:56

and then just went from there my

23:58

physio. She was actually driving

23:59

driving to Dallas, on

24:02

her way to Dallas, and then I birdied 17, so

24:04

she turned around, I mean, she was only 30 minutes

24:06

out, but she turned around, came back. My back

24:08

was killing me the final round at

24:11

Chevron, so went to the

24:13

range, and before I started warming up, she just worked

24:16

on my back a little bit, thank God. I

24:18

don't know, it was so cold on the playoff

24:20

hole, so I definitely needed

24:22

that for my back, and then just

24:24

started warming up.

24:26

I didn't know what was happening, I was just going through

24:28

some of my routine, trying to

24:31

pick the pins as fairways

24:33

on the range, as you usually do, and then,

24:37

yeah, I think once we started putting,

24:39

I asked my physio

24:41

and my caddy, I'm like, what are the

24:43

scores? And they were like, oh, she bogeyed 16,

24:46

bogeyed 17, and then she birdied 18, so

24:49

there's gonna be a playoff, so we just got in the

24:51

cart, and then went back to 18.

24:53

Could you feel the momentum

24:55

still on your side? I think,

24:58

I'm not sure what really went to my

25:00

head, I think I just still was in that mindset, like,

25:02

you still haven't won.

25:04

Like, you just need to be ready for a playoff. If you lose,

25:06

yeah, if you lose, and if

25:08

she finishes 11 under, then she played

25:11

the best of the tournament, rightfully so, and she's

25:13

gonna win. And so I did what I needed

25:15

to do, I birdied 17 to 18, gave a good run, I'm

25:17

proud of myself, and so it was time

25:20

to play 18 again, and then I just

25:22

stuck with my process, hit over the tree,

25:25

I don't know how the drive ended up where I did.

25:27

I don't know. I was gonna ask, was

25:29

that like, abnormally long

25:31

for you? Because you blew it past Angel,

25:33

and Angel's a long deer. She took a different

25:36

route. She went towards the left

25:38

of the tree, I went

25:39

over the tree. That's what you couldn't really tell on TV,

25:41

but where your balls ended up, I was like, oh.

25:44

It's ridiculous, because when I played

25:46

my 72nd hole, I had 200 in,

25:49

so I hit

25:50

soft, too hybrid, and

25:52

then doing the playoff,

25:55

I had a seven iron in. So

25:57

I turned to Cole and I said, did we hit something?

27:59

If we look

28:02

at 2023, everybody sets

28:04

goals for the year. Yeah. What

28:07

were your goals starting out this year? Where

28:10

are we at on them? And what do you think the

28:12

rest of the season is has in store? Well,

28:15

I know I wrote out goals

28:17

at

28:17

the beginning of the season. But

28:20

I usually put them away to see

28:22

if I achieve them at the end of the

28:24

year. Like at the end of the year, I'll look through them. Really,

28:28

I hit all of them for some reason. I

28:31

think we're well on our way. I would say

28:33

so. Slay

28:35

number three coming soon. Hopefully,

28:37

I think it'll be fun. Watch out for baby

28:39

girl. Let me just interject.

28:42

If my favorite part of the LPGA

28:45

All Access episode to Lillia and

28:47

her caddy talking about you know, almost

28:49

slay, you

28:50

know, didn't win the tournament. Almost slay

28:52

didn't win the tournament. Thailand slay

28:54

number one. Slay number one. Slay number two

28:57

at Chevron. Major slay. Major

28:59

slay. Excuse me. Yes. That

29:02

was a fun one. Slay number three.

29:03

Stay tuned. Yeah. Coming

29:06

soon. I don't know when, but

29:08

would love to see it soon. But you know, we're here at the

29:10

International Crown. You've earned your

29:12

way on to, you know, what's a very

29:14

competitive US squad. Obviously

29:18

you're,

29:19

you know, I think we can

29:21

safely say you'll be a part of the Solheim Cup

29:24

this September in Spain. I

29:26

mean, that's that's huge. That's

29:28

all. Yeah. It's

29:30

been a goal of mine. So hopefully I make it there. And

29:32

just being in Spain and I heard how pretty

29:34

and gorgeous it is. Super hilly.

29:37

I think they maxed out 10,000 spectators,

29:39

but super excited for it. I thrive

29:42

off of team events and not to mention match play.

29:45

I love match play. I don't know what happens,

29:47

but I just like completely transform

29:50

and I just get really invested. Palmer

29:52

Cup, Curtis Cup and World

29:55

AIM Team Championship. And it was just so

29:57

fun. I just, it's nice to have a team

29:59

aspect.

29:59

you know that you can lean on each other. And not to mention

30:02

this week too, just like

30:03

Lexi Nelly and Danielle Kang, what

30:06

other three best players can you even

30:09

have on your team? And they're just so wonderful and

30:11

we've been having a really good time.

30:12

That's awesome.

30:15

We talked to Karen Stuppel Sunday

30:18

evening after the Chevron. And

30:20

she paid you, I think, one

30:22

of the highest compliments there

30:25

is. And in her words, she

30:27

said, you know, Lillia at the end of the day, she's just

30:29

got marbles. And I'm

30:31

curious what, how you feel about

30:33

that? And is that something like, I

30:36

know you talked about, you know, well, when I'm out there, I'm

30:38

trying to play match play against the course

30:40

when it's a stroke play event. Obviously, you just

30:42

said you love match play, you

30:44

know, when you're playing against an opponent. Are

30:46

you like, you kind of love being competitive?

30:49

I'm sensing.

30:50

Yeah, I'm more of a quiet competitor.

30:52

I'm not super loud. I am yet

30:54

to fist pump any putts going

30:57

in. I mean, I re-looked at the playoff

30:59

putt and I'm like, damn, that was your chance to do

31:02

a

31:02

fist pump. But I remember after the fact. Epic

31:04

celebration. Yeah, it could have been debuted

31:07

there. I know. And I just like turn and I'm like

31:09

hand over mouth. It's just so

31:12

such a girl. It's genuine.

31:14

For sure. Yeah. Plus you

31:16

got to show off her nails. She always has really good nails.

31:18

So oh, yes, always. Yeah,

31:20

they're still here. Chevron nails. You want to shout out what

31:23

is that? Nail heart in Orange County

31:25

Garden Grove. Yeah,

31:28

my girl, they got me. They look great.

31:31

Thanks. Yeah, I usually like to go to a tournament

31:34

with really nice nails. It feel like put

31:36

together and my life not in

31:38

a shambles, you know.

31:39

But I so

31:41

I'm not gonna let you off the hook that easily. I think

31:44

what struck me about that comment by Karen

31:47

is as somebody that you know, we watch

31:49

a lot of golf and obviously, you

31:52

know, on the men's side Tiger Woods is the

31:54

dominant player of the last, let's

31:56

say 25 years and you know,

31:59

he loves

31:59

winning and

32:02

I think when I in my you

32:04

know experience watching

32:06

the LPGA player like I am searching

32:08

for that player that's like who who

32:11

wants to just go get it like who

32:14

relishes the moment and I don't

32:17

want to put that weight on you but I'm curious

32:19

if like that's something

32:21

you love like you love going

32:24

and getting it going in you know mano

32:27

a mano woman versus woman

32:29

like I'm gonna go out and win today I

32:31

know you said you're a quiet competitor but that's gotta

32:34

be in the back of your mind

32:34

yeah absolutely I mean I love

32:37

winning and you

32:39

know I've won I think like there's

32:41

plenty of times that I've won with my

32:44

B game and just knowing that

32:46

kind of like just drives me and

32:50

just play your best and if you

32:52

win you win but when I show

32:54

up to a tournament I'm trying to win that tournament

32:57

there's no like top

32:59

ten

33:01

you know that's cute but no I'm

33:04

trying to win the tournament that's why I was really upset with last

33:06

week because I felt like kind

33:08

of bombarded by media I mean

33:10

people don't tell you what comes

33:12

with winning and I'm more of maybe

33:14

what did you expect was gonna be you

33:16

were just like oh I'm going I'm going home to LA

33:19

event yeah you know home

33:21

and I thought a lot of people were just gonna come out and

33:23

watch me but it was more of like

33:26

people wanted to talk about Chevron yeah and

33:29

I was at Wilshire yeah you're doing prep for Wilshire

33:32

like wait a second and this is I've

33:34

already turned the page on it I was just really upset

33:37

from my Friday finish because I didn't feel

33:40

like I put my all into tournament I never

33:42

want to play a tournament where I don't

33:44

give it my all and try to win I felt

33:46

like I kind of just

33:48

excuse my language half-assed it yeah

33:50

and I was just so you can say what I just felt

33:52

like I was just trying to go through the motions

33:55

and just get to the weekend and

33:57

then did you feel out of gas like

33:59

oh absolutely This has been a long week. I

34:01

think in hindsight that needed to happen because

34:03

I just needed to take a breather and get

34:06

ready for the next few events

34:08

like here and then founders next

34:10

week. And I don't know, they

34:12

don't talk about just

34:15

what comes with winning, just a bunch

34:17

of media stuff. And I'm pretty,

34:20

no this is easy because it's just like chatting

34:22

with you guys. I feel like it's pretty

34:25

easy for the most part. And then, and you

34:27

guys are fun.

34:27

It's a tough dig. I mean,

34:29

I get it. No, but yeah, I think for me, I'm more

34:32

introverted. I

34:36

don't know if you guys can tell, but I'm pretty shy.

34:39

And so for that last

34:42

week, it was a lot for me. And I'm

34:44

still learning. I'm still like new to all this

34:46

stuff. So I'm learning

34:48

and I'm adapting to everything and it'll

34:50

be fine. I'll get used to it. I just need more media

34:52

training.

34:52

You talk, yeah, that's what I was gonna say. You talk about like

34:55

having the right team and support around you. Is

34:57

anybody talking to you about like, hey,

35:00

these things are different now. People are gonna look

35:02

at you different. They're gonna talk to you different. They're gonna expect

35:04

different things from you because you're

35:06

a major champion now. Yeah,

35:08

yeah, so I mean, my coach

35:10

and my caddy, they're two guys

35:13

that I rely on heavily and they kind

35:15

of just guide me through everything. I have no agent

35:17

right now. That sounds

35:19

like an all call to whoever agents

35:22

or they're out there that listen to this and usually

35:24

send us dirty messages back because

35:26

we're usually talking shit about one of their players.

35:28

But like, sounds like an open invite.

35:30

Yeah, so I have no agent

35:33

right now. I'm still trying to figure out like what's

35:35

right for me. Was that a

35:37

conscious decision on your part? Like whatever

35:40

was happening wasn't for the best.

35:43

Obviously you don't have to go too much into it. Yeah, I

35:45

just need someone more on my wavelength

35:47

and just hear from me and know

35:49

that my biggest priority

35:51

is golf. Like

35:54

what I need from an agent is basically

35:57

do everything for me that helps me focus

35:59

on just. golf like that's all I want I'm

36:01

here to win tournaments not here to just

36:04

like enjoy everything I think I'm

36:06

more I mean I've won two tournaments with

36:09

my home course visor on my

36:11

head no logos anywhere anywhere

36:14

it's not my main focus sponsors

36:16

I'm gonna

36:16

add her to the young hitter bro I

36:18

mean yeah I mean I'm

36:21

not

36:23

like I

36:25

play golf

36:26

because I love golf and I love winning I love

36:28

playing on LPGA I love everything

36:30

about this and love traveling

36:33

I

36:33

don't necessarily sponsor

36:35

sponsors are a bonus

36:36

correct and so if

36:38

they come they come and that's not like

36:41

my world doesn't revolve around that

36:43

and so right now I'm just taking my time trying

36:45

to find the right agent or

36:48

whoever to

36:49

add to my team because my team's great already

36:51

we work so well together everyone

36:53

on my team does their job

36:55

the best so that I can do my job

36:58

I think it's a good place to be yeah

37:00

about it so it's such

37:02

a big big part of it and I think

37:05

a lot of people struggle with the business

37:07

of professional golf yeah because it

37:09

is hard and there's all these new opportunities

37:12

and next thing you know like yeah sponsors are great but they're

37:14

also asking a lot from individuals

37:17

whether it's obligations or

37:20

like it goes so much further beyond

37:22

like a patch on a shirt or a hat yeah

37:25

like and being able to

37:27

to weigh the pros and cons of each

37:29

decision instead of just looking at it from

37:32

a financial point of view yeah must be like

37:34

a really like empowering place to be yeah

37:36

of like no like I'm dead serious here

37:38

I wasn't joking around like I just care

37:41

about my golf game and if you're not

37:43

around to like help facilitate me

37:45

being the best at that then I don't need it because

37:48

at the end of the day I don't need all that other

37:50

stuff anyway exactly my winnings are gonna

37:52

take care of it we're fine

37:54

so everything revolves around my golf

37:56

and my career and if you're not

37:58

helping then I'm not going to add you

38:00

to the team. Yeah. You know, Cole

38:02

was a big part of Chevron. He's been

38:05

a great addition to your team.

38:07

But where did you guys first

38:09

get together? What's kind of the relationship

38:11

been? Because it seems like you two

38:13

click, and it's a really powerful

38:15

combination.

38:16

Yeah, so my coach

38:19

Brett

38:20

is pretty good friends with Jessica Cortez

38:22

Caddy Kyle. And Kyle gave

38:24

Brett Cole's number to me. And

38:27

yeah, I reached out to him, asked for

38:30

a four-week trial. We started in Portland,

38:33

finished third. Think we shot 17 under

38:36

for that week. And on the way to the parking

38:39

lot, I just asked him, hey, you want to be full time? And

38:42

then he was like, sure. And then from

38:44

then on, we just

38:45

worked so well. It was just so easy.

38:48

And it's really hard to find a good

38:50

Caddy where it just works out so easily.

38:53

There was no, it was just so

38:55

easy. I don't know how else to explain it. That's

38:58

the best. I mean, you see,

39:01

there's a ton of people, men's and women's

39:03

game of like, man,

39:05

that's just not working for them. And you see whether

39:07

it's their communication and

39:10

not even just verbal communications, but

39:12

really all the nonverbal stuff of like, hey,

39:15

you're in the arena with me. You're

39:17

the one who's I'm relying

39:20

on my only support system. And it's

39:22

awesome that you finally, that you found somebody

39:24

who is such a great match for that.

39:26

Yeah, I think in Korea,

39:28

I was really tired from traveling.

39:31

So Monday took it off and just practiced

39:33

a little. Tuesday comes around and

39:35

I

39:36

think it was the first tee and he told me how many drivers,

39:38

how many three woods I'm hitting off the tee. And I'm like,

39:40

wow, okay, just tell me where

39:43

to go. I'll do it. And then we ended

39:45

up having a good week there too. And I

39:47

just felt like he's prepared and

39:49

he does his job so I can just focus on

39:51

what I need to focus on.

39:53

Lillie, we'll get you out here in just

39:56

a couple of minutes. I'm curious though, did

39:58

you grow up a... Are

40:00

you a student of the game? Do you, does

40:04

the history, and I'm again tying

40:06

it back to now winning a major, I mean that's

40:08

something you're now part of a very select

40:11

group in the history of the

40:14

LPGA tour. Were there people

40:16

you grew up watching, I guess women's

40:18

side, men's side? Does

40:21

your standing within the

40:24

history of the game, is that something you

40:26

ever think about or would think

40:28

about growing up? I think

40:31

a recent thought of mine was, I got to grow

40:33

up watching Tiger Woods play his

40:35

best. And the kids these

40:37

days, they don't get to say that.

40:39

And just

40:41

watching him, I remember, like I

40:43

was just so excited every Sunday to

40:45

just watch Tiger play and just go

40:48

down to Tori. I remember my

40:50

mom and my brother had this like binoculars

40:52

trying to like see through the crowd.

40:55

And I think they went down the Sunday to

40:57

wear like

40:58

Tiger and Rocco or Contending.

41:01

Yeah, Tori and I was like

41:04

probably playing a tournament. My dad took me

41:06

and I didn't get to go so I was like boo. But

41:08

they ended up playing the next Monday, I mean the Monday

41:10

after. But yeah, just like

41:14

Tiger just huge for me. Looked

41:17

up to him, just great

41:19

for the game of golf. Like I think everyone

41:21

can agree they love Tiger. Like not a

41:23

lot of people don't like Tiger. And

41:26

just growing up, it

41:28

was the best time to get into golf, watching

41:31

Tiger as a kid and just being

41:33

able to say that you saw so many of his wins.

41:35

And then like when he won

41:37

recently, the Masters, was it 2019?

41:40

Yep. I was on

41:42

a plane to Hawaii so I didn't get to

41:44

see it. And I was so mad about it, my

41:46

dad texted me, he's like did you see? No, there

41:48

was no live TV going to Hawaii

41:51

from LAX. And I missed that and I

41:53

think that was like the worst feeling in the world. And I still

41:55

think about it till this day.

41:56

Quick, what's your airline of choice? My

41:58

what? This is

42:01

the stuff we debate on our other podcasts, by the

42:03

way. Well, my favorite

42:05

is Delta. Prince,

42:07

thank you. I knew you were smart. I knew you

42:09

were smart. But United

42:12

flies out, I mean, there's quite a lot of United

42:15

out of John Wayne, and that's the

42:17

airport right next to my house. And

42:20

you can't land after 10 p.m. because there's like a noise

42:23

city ordinance, and I don't know, bougie people, whatever.

42:26

But like, I usually like flying

42:28

into John Wayne, coming home from the East

42:30

Coast. Because if we leave at

42:33

eight o'clock, we get there at like 9.30, and then I

42:35

could just get my bags right away and then go home. But

42:38

yeah, LAX has been a nightmare recently,

42:40

but

42:41

it is what it is. Well,

42:45

you know, I

42:46

think all those little

42:48

girls, you know, they want to look up to somebody,

42:51

and boys, want to see some, I mean,

42:53

you, I

42:56

don't know, I don't want to put words in your mouth, but I

42:58

just love your mindset. I think it's

43:00

so refreshing to hear

43:03

somebody on tour say, no, I

43:05

want to win every week. Because

43:07

I do think that's rare. Now, whether people

43:09

are actually thinking that privately,

43:12

which sometimes I doubt, I

43:14

just think it's so nice to hear you're like, no, I'm here

43:16

to win. Like, that's what I'm here

43:19

to do. But honestly, like putting in

43:21

the hard work,

43:21

behind the scenes, and like, Exactly. Being

43:24

from like, the highs and

43:26

lows of the professional game and being like, no,

43:28

like I'm saying this because I'm dead serious.

43:31

Yeah. And I've been on the other side,

43:33

and I, you know, this does

43:35

not come easy. I continue to grind

43:37

my butt off to be in this position

43:40

and have the capability to like truly just go

43:42

get it. As a fan of the women's

43:44

game, I freaking love it. So kudos

43:47

to you.

43:47

Yeah, I think just being rock bottom

43:50

actually drives me wanting to win

43:52

more. Because I didn't go through all of that stuff,

43:55

just the feeling of just

43:57

falling out of the love of like. out

44:00

of the love of the game of golf is just horrible

44:02

when like now I love golf. Like

44:05

even during my off weeks, I'd probably take like one

44:07

or two days off, but then I don't know what to do with myself.

44:09

I just wanna go to the golf course and play a match with

44:11

one of my guy friends. No other hobbies.

44:15

I mean, I read a lot, but it's only.

44:17

What do you like to read? A lot of self-help

44:19

books, personal development. If

44:22

it's a golf book, then more the mental side

44:24

because I'm not a technical player. I just kinda, I

44:27

hope it's a push draw every time. And if it's not, then

44:29

I don't know what to do. But

44:31

yeah. Do you have like any guilty

44:33

like indulgences?

44:36

Like I really enjoy, and you

44:38

can't say like having nice nails and

44:40

having that in like your routine. Well,

44:44

I bought a car last year. What

44:46

type of car? It's my dream car, G-Wagon.

44:50

Well, there you go. Yeah, so. Which

44:52

again, not a lot of miles. Not a lot of miles. Not a lot

44:54

of miles. Yeah, right from the side. Of course. Okay,

44:56

Lilly, I see you.

44:58

It was so, I was so like, I

45:01

didn't wanna tell people that I had it, so I had my mom

45:03

drive me in every single day. So

45:06

I was like, oh,

45:07

she's driving it. It's my mom's

45:09

car, believe me. Yeah, no, she has one. But

45:12

it's like, hers is 2002. She was like

45:14

the first person in California to get a G-Wagon,

45:17

apparently. That's pretty cool. Yeah, it's definitely

45:19

not the same, but she still has it.

45:22

What did they do? What

45:25

do you mean? Were they involved

45:27

in golf? How did they get you in golf?

45:30

Where did this whole thing come from?

45:31

I think where it all started from, my brother,

45:33

I have an older brother, and we drove

45:36

by a golf course. I think it was like Meadowlark

45:38

in Huntington Beach, some public course, and

45:41

my brother says like, oh, I wanna try golf.

45:43

And so my dad took my

45:46

brother, and then I was just there, just watching.

45:48

I don't think my dad thought girls

45:50

did sports. And so I was just,

45:52

I think, trying to be funny, imitating

45:54

my brother's swing, and then my

45:56

dad's like, here, you try. And now, I mean, I happen to

45:58

be better than my brother.

45:59

He doesn't play golf anymore much, but

46:02

I wish he did because he has a great swing, but

46:05

yeah, so yeah I'm the

46:07

one that plays golf my dad started the same

46:09

time as my brother too, and then my mom plays too,

46:11

so yeah my parents play

46:13

When during our my off

46:16

week they'll play together on

46:18

Monday and

46:19

Thursdays the tee off at 6 30 in

46:22

the morning in their home by 10 30 like I don't

46:24

even let I love golf I wouldn't I don't even

46:26

love golf enough to

46:27

tee off by 6 30. What else No,

46:30

thank you. What else they have planned for the day that they

46:32

need to get out Oh my god, so many things my

46:34

dad's just constantly Breaking

46:37

down the house and building it back up. I think Covid

46:40

just sent him into an orbit

46:43

That's funny. Well the G wagon definitely

46:46

counts as that well

46:48

Lillia we got we'll have

46:50

to do this again Because

46:52

there's so much I want to ask you about but Congratulations

46:56

truly it was so much fun

46:58

watching you at the Chevron watching you close the

47:00

deal and just getting to know you again,

47:03

it's just I am so impressed with

47:06

your wisdom and

47:08

the The place that

47:10

you've gotten to I mean I think

47:14

at your age it is just so impressive

47:16

So again kudos to you best

47:19

of luck can't wait for slay number

47:21

three Yeah, thank you guys for having

47:23

me slay number three coming soon. Love

47:26

it

47:26

Be

47:29

the right club today Better

47:37

than most

47:51

You