Lin Tzu-Chi (林子麒) fired a bogey-free 3-under 69 in the opening round of the KENDA Tires TLPGA Open on Wednesday to sit atop a jammed leaderboard, with a total of seven players carding with even par or better scores at the 6,348-yard Taipei Golf Club.

Last year’s runner-up and the recent China LPGA Bank of Qingdao Golden Mountain Challenge winner Babe Liu (劉依貞) will look to steal the show at any moment at two shots back of Lin. The duo leads a group of five at even par including four Taiwanese, Shih Huei-Ju (石惠如), Chien Pei-Yun (錢珮芸), Huang Hsien-Wen (黃賢雯), Tsai Pei-Ying (蔡佩穎), and Thailand native Ploychompoo Wirairungrueng, followed by another group of six looming one shot adrift.

Liu and Lin both got some taste of success just a couple of days ago on the China LPGA Tour, as Liu took home the victory and Lin finished in a tie for five. And the good form continued.

Other than occasional drizzles in the early day, the Taipei Gold Club was in fine conditions the rest of the day. Liu opened up in full speed with three birdies on the front nine, but ran into a bit of trouble when she made a bogey on the par-4 12th that slowed her down. She finished with a bogey on the 18th hole as well. Whereas Lin maintained her cool head all day, picking up one birdie on the front nine and two more in a row on No.14 and 15 to card the low-round-of-the-day.

They were the only two players out of the 83 teeing up today to return to the clubhouse at under-par.

Australia’s Tamie Durdin, who tallied her first TLPGA win at last week’s Yeangder TLPGA Open, finished in an 8-way tie for 14th at 2-over. The win had made her a few new fans that followed her group throughout the day. “It took some time to adjust myself to the course today.  My ball striking is good and I feel that I am still in good position, to catch up in the next rounds.”

“The weather looked good but the air was extremely heavy and humid,” said Durdin, “I was sweating so much. It was not easy.” Players will tee off at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow with a cut to be set at top 50 at the end of the day.

The KENDA Tires TLPGA Open is one of the 20 events on the 2014 Taiwan Tour calendar.  “Through the generous and continual support of all of our sponsors, TLPGA Tour now ranks 5th largest in total purse among women’s tours worldwide.  And Taiwan now ranks 7th in the world, gaining entrance to compete in July, in the inaugural “International Crown”, a biennial event organized by LPGA which is a 4-day team competition of the world’s top 8 nations,” said TLPGA chairwoman Liu Yi-Chen.   

“Our long-term effort and strategy are paying off, and our target is to have at least 25 events a year.”  Two events per month, is a prerequisite to keep our tour players sharp during the whole season.  

The next goal of the TLPGA Tour is to gain the approval into World Woman Golf Ranking (WWGR) System.  The evaluation of our application will be made in July during the WWGR annual meeting.  “Our efforts to develop into a top-notch women’s professional tour should be recognized by the WWGR, and the support of our sponsors and partners deserve justifications by receiving official recognition,” said Liu.