Few people remember when Lilia Vu, the new No. 1 player in women’s golf, won a tournament in the Coachella Valley.
Vu won the 2014 ANA Junior Inspiration, a junior tournament that rewarded the winner with a berth in the desert’s LPGA major played later that week. Vu went on to finish 46th in the ANA Inspiration that week, her first appearance in a women’s major championship.
Vu was one of a string of standout golfers who won the Junior Inspiration, first a standalone tournament started by LPGA Hall of Famer Amy Alcott, then a tournament run by the Southern California Golf Association and later the American Junior Golf Association. Most of those juniors were just happy for a chance to play in an LPGA major but have gone on to stardom at some level in the professional game.
Here’s a look back at the five winners of the Junior Inspiration who have had success on the LPGA.
Lilia Vu
When Vu won the ANA Junior Inspiration in 2014, she was a rising star in golf that led her to stardom at UCLA. But her professional journey has been difficult. She made just one cut on the 2019 LPGA Tour and played both the 2020 and 2021 seasons on the LPGA’s developmental Epson Tour. In 2023 all the promise has come together, with her first LPGA win at the LPGA Honda Thailand event, followed by her first major win at the Chevron Championship, the event that replaced the ANA Inspiration on the LPGA calendar. Now she has won her second major of the year at the AIG Women’s Open, vaulting her to No. 1 in the computer rankings. That’s a swift rise from Epson Tour journeyman to world No. 1 in just two years.
Rose Zhang
Zhang, from Irvine at the time, won the 2018 ANA Junior Inspiration, and it only hinted at what she would become in the game. Zhang became the top collegiate golfer in the country while at Stanford, winning the NCAA individual championship, the U.S. Women’s Amateur and the Augusta National Women’s Amateur titles while dominating college events. When she turned pro earlier this year, she won her first start at the Mizuho Americas Open in a playoff over Jennifer Kupcho. She’ll be a star for years to come.
Andrea Lee
Like those before her, when Lee won the 2016 ANA Junior Inspiration, she was a star already. She was the AJGA player of the year that same year, and she went on to stardom at Stanford. But like others, her professional career began a bit rocky. She made the LPGA in 2020, but that was the year of COVID and she managed two top-10 finishes in 15 starts. She won her first professional title on the Epson Tour in 2022, but later that year won the Portland Classic on the LPGA to secure her status on the big tour.
Angel Yin
Slow and steady has been the story for Yin, the 2013 ANA Junior Inspiration winner. Always known as one of the longest hitters in women’s golf, Yin is still looking for her first LPGA title. But her play has been consistent enough for her to make two Solheim Cup teams for the United States. She has two top-10s in majors this year, including a playoff loss to Vu in the Chevron Championship. She keeps getting better and better.
Alison Lee
The winner of the first junior tournament connected to the desert’s LPGA major in 2012, Lee was a can’t-miss prospect as a junior who went on to be ranked the No. 1 amateur in the world while at UCLA. Her professional career started quickly with a berth on the U.S. Solheim Cup team in her rookie year of 2017. Since then, though, her career has slowed. She did win a tournament on the Ladies European Tour in 2021 and posted her first top-10 in a major at the 2022 Chevron Championship in Rancho Mirage. At 28, there is still time for her to win that first LPGA title.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: From Lilia Vu to Rose Zhang, desert junior golf winners have become stars
