The final major of the TLPGA’s January swing, the 14th annual TLPGA & Royal Open will see 104 players from seven countries competing over three rounds, 54-hole stroke play for a lucrative winner prize of NT$1.2 million (runner-up prize for NT$600,000), starting tomorrow at the Royal Kuan-Hsi Golf Club. Defending champion, Thailand’s Nontaya Srisawang will look for a “three-peat” while last week’s Yeangder TLPGA Open conqueror Tsai Pei-Ying (蔡佩穎) is aiming at her second TLPGA Tour victory.

The total purse reaches NT$6 million. The 104-player list includes 96 pros from China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Taiwan as well as 8 local talents vying for the top amateur honor.

In the first two tournaments in the 2016 season, Srisawang capped off with an equal tenth at the Hitachi Ladies Classic and improved to an eighth-place finish last week at the Yeangder TLPGA Open, both in the top 10, but still hoping to tune herself to the ideal hitting form that could lead her to the trophy as it did in the last two years.

To strengthen the cross strait ties and create positive competition for women on the golf tours in both nations, this year, for the first time in tournament history, five top players from the China LPGA Tour were invited into the field.

First-round early waves off the 1st as well as the 10th will tee off at 8:00 in the morning and the last group starts at 10:10.

On Thursday, a Pro-Am competition is staged at the Royal Kuan-Hsi Golf Club featuring 24 pro TLPGA Tour athletes and 72 amateur golfers. However, the 18-hole event was cut to 9-hole due to persistent rain and the officials decided to put the prizes into a pool for a lucky winner. To players’ surprise, event partner United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) announced in the player party four additional special awards to be on offer for golfers,

． Earning the low-round score (NT$50,000 for each round);
． Scoring an eagle (NT$20,000 for each eagle made);
．Scoring three birdies in a single round (NT$10,000 for each player achieving the record);
． Scoring one of the last twenty birdies made of the tournament (NT$5,000 for each birdie made).

Provided by the Royal Kuan-His Golf Club, a NT$30,000 bonus cash prize will also be up for grabs for players who can break the course low-round of 8-under 64 set by Yani Tseng (曾雅妮), a five-time LPGA Tour major champion and the event’s 2008 winner.

The TLPGA & Royal Open is the longest running tournament and the first internationally open event on the TLPGA Tour since 2002, when Taiwanese Huang Yu-Chen (黃玉珍) was crowned the first winner. Huang has etched her name on the tournament history the second time after conquering the 2009 field.

A cut will be made after 36 holes to the low 50 and ties for the final round on Sunday. Set at 6,334 yards, the rolling greens on the Kuan-His Golf Course, one of the largest golf resorts in Taiwan, could provide plenty of challenges for the pro athletes in the coming weekend.