The TLPGA Tour will head to the Royal Kuan-Hsi Golf Club, which celebrates the 20th anniversary since establishment, for the thirteenth-annual TLPGA & Royal Open from 30 Jan to 1 Feb. A studded field of 103 golfers from around the world will come to Hsinchu, Taiwan, to vie for a share of the NT$6 million purse and of course to hopefully tally some WWGR points. Thailand’s Nontaya Srisawang will be back for her title defense.

Srisawang came back from a three-shot deficit in the final round last year to edge Taiwanese Phoebe Yao (姚宣榆) with a 54-hole total of 208, winning the top prize of NT$1.2 million.

Yao will lead of host of local contenders including last week’s newly crowned Taifong Ladies Open winner Kuo Ai-Chen (郭艾榛), teen sensation Cheng Ssu-Chia (程思嘉), who has earned four victories before turning pro last month, and the 2012 champion, Shih Huei-Ju (石惠如). Two-time champion, veteran Huang Yu-Chen (黃玉珍) will take the course coming back from an injury in hopes of repeating her success in 2002 and 2009.

2014 TLPGA Tour money winner Chien Pei-Yun (錢珮芸) also vowed to fight for her first TLPGA win as she was handed a trophy by TLPGA Chairwoman Liu Yi-Chen (劉依貞) concurrently on the pre-tournament conference, honoring her achievement throughout last year.

“I will take every chance to win the title. Hopefully this will be it,” said Chien. “I did pretty well all year last year but unfortunately I was always just one step short.”

Among the list see Australian Tamie Durdin, Thailand’s Titiya Plucksataporn, Pimpadsorn Sangkagaro, Kanphanitnan Muangkhumsakul, and Chuticahi Porani who all have won at least one TLPGA title.

Other than the prize money, there will be a NT$30,000 special award up for grabs, provided by the Royal Kuan-Hsi Golf Club, for players who can break course low-round of 64, set by former World No.1 and a TLPGA member, Yani Tseng (曾雅妮).

The 2015 TLPGA & Royal Open also marks the 130th event in TLPGA history. Founded in 2001, the TLPGA had initially 42 official members and organized its own Tour of professional golf with a calendar purse of NT$4.5 million.

After more than a decade of endeavor, the TLPGA Tour gained worldwide recognition by players and sponsors and finally was invited by the Women's World Golf Rankings (WWGR) to become one of its nine acknowledged member tours in 2014, and the member number later broke 100, as the total purse of the 2015 calendar year set to leap to a record NT$162.3 million.

The TLPGA & Royal Open is the longest running tournament and the first internationally open event on the TLPGA Tour, with the continuous support from the Royal Kuan-Hsi Golf Club, which will be commemorating its 20 year anniversary this year.