Flashing shots after shots made of experience and maturity beyond the years, teenagers Cheng Ssu-Chia (程思嘉) of Taiwan and Supamas Sangchan of Thailand fired 68 and 69 respectively on Saturday to take the 36-hole lead at 8-under par at the 2015 CTBC Shanghai Ladies Classic.

After a damp start yesterday, the Tianma Country Club was back to perfect conditions as young guns shooting fearlessly to dominate the leaderboard. Following the 17-year-old Cheng and 19-year-old Sangchan closely by one stroke margin was 19-year-old Dalian native Ye Ziqi (葉子琪). Beijing native Shi Yuting (石昱婷), 17, and Thai Wichanee Meechai sit another shot adrift in the RMB800,000 tournament co-sanctioned by the LPGA Tour of Taiwan and the China LPGA Tour.

Thailand’s Sangchan, the first-round co-leader, blitzed through to the outright lead at 9-under when she opened the day with four consecutive birdies, but a bogey on the par-4 ninth put a damper on her momentum as she finished 8-under with just one additional birdie and a total of two bogeys.

Cheng’s handed in a scorecard opposite Sangchan, walking through an uneventful front-nine but had a late surge firing four birdies in a six-hole span. Cheng had an outstanding amateur career with four victories but is looking for her first title since turning pro last December.

“I like the way my short game held up today, but there were a few unnecessary putting mistakes,” said Cheng. “My two bogeys in this round both came from three-putts. I felt like I still wasn’t that confident on reading the grain and break in the greens here on the Tianma Course. But I did my best and the outcome was okay.”

Cheng only missed one fairway during the second round, setting up good approaches which left some short birdie chances as she needed only 28 putts at the end of the day producing six birdies.

Fellow CTBC player and overnight co-leader Yeh Hsin-Ning (葉欣寧), unfortunately, took 34 putts to finally end the “dull day” in the office. “I was trying really hard for a wake-up moment but it just didn’t happen. I felt like I could fall asleep anytime out there!” Yeh said. “I felt I was doing not bad, hitting the greens, and the next were just watching the ball missing by centimeters.” Yeh moved an unplayable ball beside a tree near the Hole 3 fairway and painted the only color on the card with a bogey. She made pars on all the other seventeen and dropped to a tie with current low amateur Rebecca Tsai (蔡欣儒) (68) and two other players for fifteenth off five shots.

First-round co-leaders Pannarat Thanapolboonyaras and Kumi Uchiyama each also posted a round of 1-over 73, now sitting four shots back in a seven-player tie for eighth including local favorites Pan Yanhong (潘艷紅), Yan Panpan (閻盼盼), Xu Juan (徐娟), and Tian Hong (田紅).

The Shanghai Ladies Classic has progressed into its eleventh year and the first time CTBC Bank comes in as the title sponsor. The CTBC Shanghai Ladies Classic also marks Taiwan LPGA Tour’s fourth stop overseas in the 2015 season, and its first foray into China, featuring an RMB800,000 purse and a RMB120,000 champion prize up for grabs for a 120-player field.