It was Lee Jeong-Hwa of Korea who set the pace again on the first day of the ICTSI Champion Tour’s second stop at the Manila Southwoods Legends Course as she posted a 5-under first-round 67 that has her in a four-way share of the lead with local players Mia Piccio, Samantha Martirez and Japan’s Yumi Takabayachi. Lee is the winner at the first stop of the ICTSI Champion Tour on Sunday with a 54-hole total of 8-under 208.

The TLPGA Tour and LPGT (Ladies Philippine Golf Tour) co-sanctioned event features 69 golfers from seven countries including England, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, and Taiwan. It marks just the second event on the LPGT this year also the second tournament on the TLPGT’s oversea leg which will stretch from Asia all the way to the USA, offering a total purse of US$75,000.

Rookie pro Wu Yi-Ching (伍以晴) of Taiwan, home of the TLPGA Tour, and the solo runner-up last week, Japanese Fumika Kawagishi are both two strokes back of the lead with 3-under par 69s.

69 has been a low career round for the 20-year-old Wu, who bagged the Taiwan Amateur Golf Championship back in 2013. The ICTSI Champion Tour this week is only her sixth tournament after turning pro last December.

“I didn’t really expect myself to play well today. I just caught a cold yesterday and wasn’t feeling 100 percent,” said Wu, who got cut by two shots last week at the Splendido Taal Golf & Country Club. “But I was managing fine, particularly with my short game and putting. I actually felt really comfortable out there.”

Wu teed off on the back nine, pitching in on the 15th from 11 yards to score her first birdie. And then on the par-5 6th, Wu used a 52-degree wedge to make another chip-in at 13 yards away. She has had five birdies and two bogeys with a back-nine 35 followed by a front-nine 34, needing merely 25 putts throughout.

“It was great all around. The ball pretty much went where I wanted it to go. But I noticed a tendency that I open my clubface a bit too much so the distance falls short sometimes, which is what I need to work on with a little more practice,” said Wu.

Wu used to be a track and field athlete when she was little, training for long jump and high jump before taking up golf at the age of 10 when she started competitive golfing at the Royal Country Club and the Sunrise Golf Course in Taiwan. She is now a third-year sports university student.

On the top of the leaderboard, Lee, who is seeking back-to-back victories, remained bogey-free and made five birdies. Matching Lee’s effort and producing almost identical scorecards were Symetra Tour player Piccio and 17-year-old amateur Martirez with bogey-free 67s as well. Japanese Takayabachi registered seven birdies and two bogeys to join the four-way lead.

“I kept my swing in good control. The irons and putter combined nicely,” said Lee.

Soon to be a freshman in the California Baptist University, Martirez jumped to the lead with the help of her precision in the short game as she closed with three birdies in the last five holes. A finely-tuned short-game also brings her 24-year-old compatriot Piccio to a share of the lead.

Despite a twisted right ankle that forced her out of last week’s first-stop tournament, Chen Tzu-Han (陳子涵) had an unexpected takeaway as she feels improvement in her swing, because of the injury. “I tried to walk slowly and prevent further injury by planting my right foot firmly on the ground instead of just on my tip toes, and it felt like I was making more solid contact with the ball, which felt great and actually increased the accuracy.” She made a 15-foot putt on the 9th for one of her five birdies today, carding a 70 in the end to sit tied for seventh with two-time TLPGA Tour winner Kanphanitnan Muangkhumaskul and two other players.

A cut will be made to the low 50 and ties after tomorrow. Tee time for the second round will be 7:00 in the morning and the last playing group will start at 8:50.

The ICTSI (International Container Terminal Services, Inc.) is the title sponsor of the LPGT for the fourth year. And the total number of tournaments has been raised from six in 2013 to nine in 2016.