It was the bone-chilling gusts back that made it all the more familiar and classic during the second day of the 2015 TLPGA & Royal Open at the Royal Kuan-Hsi Golf Club after the day 1 peace. Chang Hsuan-Ping (張瑄屏) fended off challenging weather conditions and fired a 5-under 67 to push herself atop the leaderboard with teen sensation Cheng Ssu-Chia (程思嘉) and defending champion Nontaya Srisawang of Thailand at 4-under-par.

The low-round 67 won Chang a special bonus of NT$50,000 provided by United Microelectronics Corp., which is given out in each round.

In the past two years, the victories both went to the hands of Thai players as Titiya Plucksataporn prevailed in 2013 and Srisawang triumphed in 2014. Chang vowed to make it different and to get the title back home. “I’ve won once on the Tour but it was just a Heritage Tour event. It feels amazing to be back in the final group, and an event of this level. I am definitely going to take it one shot at a time and to see if I can keep the win in Taiwan this time,” Chang said.

Chang needed some more time than she hoped to settle down as she bogeyed her first hole right away and made another on Hole 3, however, it was all uphill after then. Chang was spot-on, attacking the pins with her irons seemingly at will even if the typical Hsinchu wind was blowing in extreme high speed, and leaving short putts for birdies. And she took her chances, rolling in seven 3 to 12 footers for birdies. Chang’s total of putts needed for the day was just 26.

“I was hitting solid with my putter and had some sharp iron plays,” said Chang. “Probably it had something to do with my weight gain. I put on about three kilos in these past few weeks hoping to hit with more power and consistency and it obviously helped my game today.”

17-year-old Cheng Ssu-Chia got off to a flying start, drained three long birdie putts on Hole 2, 5, and 6, and took the lead, but then failed to carry on the momentum with seven consecutive pars. What made it worse was a misjudgment of wind direction that led to a bogey on the 14th. Gladly, she quickly made it up on the next one with a chip-in from the left edge and got back into a share of the lead.

“The wind was so strong, so there were a couple of times I kind of missed it,” said Cheng, who carded 69. “I will have to be more careful tomorrow. Maybe I will try to take one or two clubs smaller to be more accurate.”

Defending champion Srisawang hung tough despite tough conditions, tallying three birdies and one bogey for 70. “It was really hard with the winds but I managed to stay on the fairways,” said Srisawang. “There are going to be some nerves but I will try to imagine it is in practice and try to win it again.”

A cut was made after today’s second round as 58 players finishing in the top-50 and ties (including eight amateurs) were through to the final Sunday, chasing the winner prize of NT$1.2 million and world ranking points. Chang, Cheng, and Srisawang will tee off in the final group tomorrow at 10:50 a.m..

Other than the prize money, there is still 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 record of 64, set by former World No.1 and a TLPGA member, Yani Tseng (曾雅妮).