Lilia Vu’s path to the 2024 Paris Olympics was anything but simple.
The U.S. star golfer was born and raised in Fountain Valley, California with her parents, who are both first-generation Vietnamese immigrants.
How she got there, however, is a story of familial sacrifice.
Vu’s mother and four siblings lived in the countryside of Vietnam. Her grandfather, Dinh Du, would go away for extended periods of time to build a boat to help his family escape their war-torn country.
Get top local stories in Southern California delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC LA's News Headlines newsletter.
Vu discovered golf early on in her life and progressed to be one of the world’s top amateurs. Once she turned pro, she immediately felt the weight of expectations.
“For some reason, I started losing all my confidence because I didn’t see results right away,” Vu said.
Just when Vu thought times couldn’t get tougher, she received a call that her grandfather had been admitted to the hospital.
She recalls the last time she spoke to her grandfather — he was in the hospital and the last thing he said to her was “Good luck and go play well.”
“Out of all the things we could worry about, he’s worried about my golf game,” Vu recollected.
To this day, Vu thanks her grandfather for paving the way for their family and giving her the life she has today as a golf champion.
“I think of my grandfather all the time,” Vu said. "He was a very quiet hard worker, he wouldn’t complain about anything — he just gets stuff done and I think I have the same thing.”
Vu, 26, was named to the USA women’s golf roster for the 2024 Olympics and is set to make her debut on the big stage in the women’s individual event on Wednesday at 3 a.m. ET/ 12 a.m. PT.
