Taiwan’s Lu Ya-Huei (呂雅惠), the 2013 season-end no.1 on the TLPGA money list, and compatriot Huang Hsien-Wen (黃賢雯) both sit atop the first-round leaderboard at the Jing-Du Construction Charity Ladies Open after shooting 4-under 68s at the Tong Hwa Golf & Country Club.

A group of three of Chen I-Wen (陳依妏), Hsieh Yu-Ling (謝瑀玲), and Thailand’s Nemittra Juntanaket trail by two shots at 70.

The historic event is co-organized by Have-Love Social Welfare Foundation and Tseng Yani International, presenting a NT$3 million purse to a total of 88 players from 11 countries, with the winner check of NT$600,000 on offer. A cut will be made tomorrow, however, and only the top 50 and ties should prevail.

Lu, coming off a career year in 2013 but currently sitting just inside the top 20 on the 2014 TLPGA official money list, hopes that this special event could turn her season around.  Holding a newly re-gripped driver, Lu admitted that it was a so-so driving day as she was still trying to get accustomed to the firmer feel than her previous one.  “Glad that it was alright as it went on with my putter and iron,” said Lu, who needed just 26 putts that included a 13-foot hole-out on the 13th green.

She will be paired with co-leader Huang in the last group teeing off at 9:20 a.m. tomorrow.

Huang, a Symetra Tour rookie for the last season, has been making the most of her U.S. experience at the developmental circuit, which she credited for the progress she was able to showcase back home on Wednesday’s first round.

“I think the biggest difference is the ability to stable myself when things are not going my way, and that I’m able to kind of step back and see the problems,” analyzed Huang. “The year in the U.S. really opened up a big vision for me after actually seeing how they’re training as a professional player there and all the valuable advice I got.”

“Today, I was hitting back-to-back bogeys at the start but then I was starting to read it more clearly and made up with birdies right away. When I used to have a bad day it was hard to get back focused, but now it’s different. I’m happy with the improvement.”

This week’s Jing-Du Construction Charity Ladies Open marks TLPGA Tour’s first event supported by an enterprise from construction industry. It also marks a milestone week that a TLPGA tournament (other than the LPGA co-sanctioned) will award official world ranking points after the WWGR (Women's World Golf Rankings) filed an invitation in July for TLPGA Tour to become part of its ranking system.

Players to wrap up the 54 holes in the top 5 on Friday will, for the first time in the TLPGA Tour history, pick up points for a World Ranking as a stepping stone onto other international tours, which is a small step for the global concept by the female golf’s governing body but definitely a giant leap for Taiwanese golf.

Revenue from ticket sale and leveraging activities will be donated to the Have-Love Social Welfare Foundation and partly as a development fund for the TLPGA.

Fans could also win themselves a lucky lottery cash prize up to NT$500,000 by joining the three day event at the Tong Hwa Golf & Country Club located in outer Taipei.