Hsieh Yu-Ling (謝瑀玲) of Taiwan narrowly keeps her lead heading into the Friday final round of the TLPGA Future Open. She carded an even par 72 on Thursday to remain at 7-under, cutting her advantage to just one after Hong Kong’s Tiffany Chan shot a low-round 66 in windy conditions.

The winner will earn a NT$600,000 prize check in a total purse of NT$3 million.

With a typhoon forecast to close in, players were having a good hold of what might be thrown at them, and the scores posted by those front runners didn’t really reflect the tougher conditions. Chan was the one who especially stood out with her strong mental approach to managing the weather. The 21-year-old college player in the States fit a stay in Taiwan into her summer vacation plan with her dad’s company, and chose to give it another go on the TLPGA Tour.

“I gave myself a three-week break before this tournament, so I felt some rust early on yesterday,” said Chan. “But today I felt like a total different story. It just actually made me feel extra motivated and focused knowing that it’s going to play tougher with the conditions and wind. I’m happy with the way I played on the greens today. I enjoyed the challenge.” Chan shot a bogey-free 66 with six birdies which marks her career low round on the TLPGA Tour.

Hsieh, the overnight leader, however, admitted that the reportedly bad conditions probably had her more nervous than she should be. “The wind turned out not that bad. I think I gave myself just a little too much pressure. I was not relaxed enough and made some mistakes,” Hsieh said. “But finally, I got to pick up a few birdies to balance it out. So the result was acceptable. It’s good to get through this kind of nerves before the final round and hopefully I’ll find the right rhythm right off the bat tomorrow.”

Riding the momentum from last week’s Gem Sheen TLPGA Heritage Tour where she won in Group Girls’ 12-16 and finished even lower than the pros, teen talent Chang Ya-Chun (張雅淳) used a 3-under-par 69 to improve from T11 to T3 with Yeangder TLPGA Open winner Wichanee Meechai from Thailand and fellow Taiwanese amateur Rebecca Tsai (蔡欣儒) with three shots off the lead at 4-under.

Only starting playing competitive golf four and a half year ago, Tsai made, in fact, her very first travel to the Tong Hwa Golf & Country Club. Nevertheless, now with just 18 holes to go, she’s in striking distance for a maiden win after back-to-back 70s. “It’s all learning for me. So I felt very calm, nothing to worry,” said the 18-year-old.

Former TLPGA no.1 Lu Ya-Huei (呂雅惠) scored two birdies for a bogey-free 2-under 70 on Thursday, sitting in a tie for sixth with Thai Wannasiri Sirisampant. Lu said she was happy with her improvement from the first round.

Yeh Hsin-Ning (葉欣寧) dropped three strokes today and slid down into a tie for eighth at 1-under with Yu Pei-Lin (余珮琳), Thailand’s Saraporn Chamchoi, and South African Monique Smit. “I didn’t sleep well last night. I got some allergy symptoms in my legs. I tried hard to concentrate today but it was not easy,” said Yeh. “I will try to rest well for tomorrow and hopefully I can have a better day.”

KENDA Tires TLPGA Open champion Liang Yi-Ling (梁宜羚), after a 1-over 73 second-round, sits tied for twelfth with Malaysia’s Pan Aretha Herng, Chien Pei-Yun (錢珮芸), and 17-year-old amateur Chen Min-Jou (陳敏柔). Chen is having her lowest 36-hole score so far this season at 144.

Gem Sheen TLPGA Heritage Tour winner and two-time defending champion Shih Huei-Ju (石惠如) falls out of contention with nine shots back at T18 after two straight 73s.

A cutline was set at 10-over-par 154 as Thursday wrapped up to send the top 72 into the final round which will be off to an early shotgun start at 6:45 on Friday morning with concerns of unplayable situations later in the day due to the typhoon.

This year, the TLPGA Future Open presented by High Tech Charity, formerly known as the Technology Cup, is titled with a new name in connection with the TLPGA Future Challenge Series and features 14 of the top 20 on the TLPGA Tour Money List. A hole-in-one prize of a brand new Mercedes-Benz A180 worth NT$1,480,000 is still up for grabs for the first ace on the 168-yard 16th.