A trio of Thais tied for the lead in Thursday’s first round at the 2015 CTBC Ladies Open as Budsabakorn Sukapan, Pavarisa Yoktuan, and Pannarat Thanapolboonyaras carded matching 7-under 65s at Taipei’s Orient Golf & Country Club to set the early pace.

The threesome each recorded an eagle throughout the first day and is now three shots ahead of a group of five in a tie for fourth at 4-under par 68 including TLPGA members Lu Ya-Huei (呂雅惠), Hsu Wei-Ling (徐薇淩), Cheng Ssu-Chia (程思嘉), Doris Chen (陳彥寧), and China LPGA’s Yan Panpan (閻盼盼).

Lu is aiming for back-to-back TLPGA Tour wins after just claiming her eighth Tour victory at the Party Golfers Ladies Open earlier this month.

Another seven player, including current 2015 TLPGA Tour official money leader Kuo Ai-Chen (郭艾榛) and Tour titlist Titiya Plucksataporn, trailed by four strokes at 3-under, while this year’s CTBC Shanghai Ladies Classic conqueror Michelle Koh is among nine golfers at 2-under, five shots off the pace.

Defending champion Pimpadsorn Sangkagaro had to settle for an opening round of 2-over 74 to sit tied for 54th, leaving her with it all to do in order to avoid the cut down to 50 players tomorrow.

The TLPGA and China LPGA co-sanctioned tournament, featuring a 108-player international field this year, is sponsored by the CTBC Bank and the CTBC Charity Foundation, which have supported the TLPGA and held at least one Tour event together for the fourth consecutive year already.

18-year-old Sukapan, having won an individual silver medal and led the Thai contingent to another gold medal in the team competition in the 2014 Asian Games, was off to a burning start. Teeing it up on the back nine, she fired three birdies in a row from 10th to 12th. Sukapan went on to score two more birdies and a chip-in eagle from 15 yards on the par-5 1st in her bogey-free 65.

“The driver was actually a struggle,” the young Thai admitted, who only found five fairways all day. “Some swing changes are still being made at the moment so I wasn’t very confident. But I am very happy with my short game today. Putting, especially, felt very good.”

Thanapolboonyaras, another Thai rookie who just turned pro this season, also posted a bogey-free opener with one eagle and five birdies. The 17-year-old hit almost flawlessly and only missed one fairway, but she said she expected even lower. “I think I missed like four 4 or 5 footers on the green.”

Thanapolboonyaras has entered five events in China this year with the highlight being her only top-10 finish at fourth-place at the Wuhan Challenge just a couple of weeks ago. “There is some room for improvement in my putter for sure. Other than that, I feel really comfortable and hope to continue to play this way.”

Sharp with precise iron plays and tee shots, fourth-year pro golfer Yoktuan was also among the leaders at 7-under with one eagle, six birdies, and one bogey. “My putting was the best part, and the driver was good, too,” the 21-year-old said, who was the winner at last year’s Wuhan Challenge and runner-up this year.

Hsu Wei-Ling, a CTBC Bank player and a rookie pro on the LPGA tour, carded five birdies and one bogey to finish at 68 and three shots off the pace. “The best one for me was probably that birdie putt from about 21 feet on no.5, but overall I missed many birdie chances. I knew on this course putting would make a huge difference, so I was working very hard on it especially considering the grass is so different than being on the U.S. grounds,” said Hsu. “After today, I believe it will be getting better and better.”

Currently ranked 59 on the 2015 LPGA Tour Official Money list, the 21-year-old Taiwanese is high on confidence with a T8 finish at the recent Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic, where she rewrote her personal low-tournament score at 11-under.

Another CTBC player Cheng Ssu-Chia, who lost to Sangkagaro last year after three play-off holes, was also at 4-under after five birdies and a bogey. “It was a shorter course compared to those on the European Tour,” said the 21st-ranked on LET’s 2015 Order of Merit. “I could attack the greens only using a 7-iron. I think I only missed two greens in regulation.”

Doris Chen, a USC graduate this summer playing her third tournament as a pro, finished the first day with six birdies and two bogeys, said she felt in a good form and thought she was able to get even lower.

“My iron was good. Left me some short putts to finish so I was definitely expecting lower. But it was a good performance,” said Chen. “I want to thank the CTBC Bank for inviting me and I hope I can play well this week to have some sponsors notice me.”

41-year-old Lu Ya-Huei said she felt relaxed and confident after the victory at the Party Golfers Ladies Open. “I was driving straight, and putting great. It feels good that I could keep up the nice play from my last tournament win.”

China’s Yan Panpan broke a 10-year drought for titles after winning in Qingdao in May. She fired seven birdies today but dropped her level just about to finish when she made two consecutive bogeys on Hole 17 and 18 to slide back to 4-under.

The NT$5 million tournament will be played over 54-hole stroke play at the Orient Golf & Country Club scheduled for Sep 24-26 with a NT$1 million top prize. Adding to the intrigue, there will be two hole-in-one prizes-- a LEXUS ES200 car on the 16th provided by Lexus Taiwan, and a Harry Winston Excenter luxury timepiece on the 13th, sponsored by WTE advertising.