Babe Liu (劉依貞) of Taiwan continued her steady display to have a realistic chance of taking her second victory in a row after she shot another 1-under 71 in the second round at the second staging of the KENDA Tires TLPGA Open.

Liu, the newly crowned Bank of Qingdao Golden Mountain Challenge winner on the China LPGA Tour, enters Friday’s final round holding the outright lead at 2-under after shooting another 71 in the second round. But while Liu sits atop the leaderboard, there are a number of other champions within striking distance entering the last day.

“To be honest, I didn’t feel like I put up my best performance,” said Liu of today’s lead. She was also in the final group of the last day in last year’s event, but buckled under pressure and missed what could’ve been her first TLPGA win. “There’s going to be some nerves but I hope I can still play better tomorrow.”

2011 TLPGA Championship (Taichung) winner Chien Pei-Yun (錢珮芸), who had a stellar season so far with top-5 finishes in all four starts including a runner-up finish at the Hitachi Ladies Classic in January, shot 71 as well and moved to the solo second.

First round leader and two-time CLPGA Tour winner Lin Tzu-Chi (林子麒) cruised on the front nine to stretch her lead to three shots at one point but struggled on the back side en route to shooting a 4-over 76 with four bogeys and a double-bogey. She dropped to solo third place at 1-over 145.

Yeh Hsin-Ning (葉欣寧), Bree Turnbull, and another TLPGA titlist Shih Huei-Ju (石惠如) are among the group sitting in a tie for fourth.

Reigning Yeangder TLPGA Open winner Tamie Durdin carded a shocking 8-over 80 and slid down into a tie for 39th at 154, but still advanced to the final round as the cut line set at 159.

Play was halted by thunder showers twice at Thursday’s Taipei Golf Club. Before the first rain delay in the morning, Pilipino Cyna Rodriguez holed out on the 131-yard 18th hole, which was already the fourth ace in her career.

Liu, Chien, and Lin will tee it up at 8:40 a.m. tomorrow in the final group, jostling for a winner check worth NT$1 million.