The 2016 Mercuries Life Insurance Heritage Tour tees it up on Wednesday. 17-year-old Chang Ya-Chi (張亞琦), who is joining this week at the North Bay Golf & Country Club hoping to get through the TLPGA Tour Pro-Test, fired a low-round 2-under 70 to see her name atop the leaderboard. Pan Yen-Ling (潘彥伶), with her opening 71, was the leader in the professional event. Chen Min-Jou (陳敏柔and Yeh Hsin-Ning (葉欣寧) came closely second, trailing by one shot.

Following a heavy rain overnight, the clouds hovered over the North Bay Golf & Country Club throughout Wednesday with drizzle in the air. The tournament decided to adopt the “preferred lies” rule permitting the players to clean the mud and replace their ball at a position within club-length. However, players still found themselves in tough scoring conditions with the unfamiliar grain they’re facing. Chang and Pan were the only two players to break par.

Although Chang is not eligible to play in the professional event, she has displayed some top-notched pro-level golf, shooting four birdies and two bogeys and improving from a Tuesday 78 to set herself up in advantageous position to earn professional status.

This is Chang’s first Pro-Test appearance. She will achieve professional status shall she hits lower than 80 tomorrow to finish at 12-over 228 or better.

Chang followed the route of a pair of older brother and sister and was introduced to golf by her father when she was 10 years old, but she became the only child to pursue professional golf. Chang is now in her second year in a high school.

With a short stature, Chang is not too proud of her driving distance which averages at around 220 yards, but her main strength is the stinging accuracy in the short game which makes up for the lack of natural power. She converted four putts today within three to eighteen feet.

Professional group leader Pan made three birdies and two bogeys. She started off the day strongly, scoring a trio of three-foot birdies on the front nine, but she struggled with her putter to go with two bogeys after the turn. She needed 31 putts and 17 on the back nine.

“It was raining all day yesterday. We couldn’t get a good practice,” said Pan. “The conditions were quite wet and tricky. I was not reading the grass too well.”

Chen Min-Jou, who is based in Hsin Chu Golf Country Club, felt disappointed with her putter today, needing 31 putts as well, but relied on consistent driving wood and chipping wedge to stay in control. Chen had 100% fairways hit and capitalized on three par-5 holes for birdies to erase the three bogey mistakes.

Yeh Hsin-Ning’s even-par 72 included four birdies, one bogey, and a double bogey, when she pulled her tee shot out of bounds on the 16th. “I had a few more chances on the front nine with about four putts for birdie all within 12 feet,” said Yeh. “But overall, I feel I’m playing some steady golf, which is great, except for that double, though.”

The 36-hole pro-junior event features a purse of NT$600,000. A local field of 82 players, including 41 amateurs, will be playing for a top cash prize of NT$71,000. Title sponsor Mercuries Life Insurance has hosted the Mercuries Taiwan Masters for 29 years on the Taiwan PGA (Men’s) Tour and decided to extend its reach in support of the development of the women’s game by launching the pro-junior Heritage tournament last year.

The Mercuries Life Insurance Heritage Tour is a TLPGA Tour event co-organized by the North Bay Golf & Country Club in Taipei. The course this week is set at 6,040 yards long.

Besides Group Professionals, Group Amateurs of Women’s 16-25 (17-player), Boys’/Girls’ 12-16 (11/7-player), and Juniors’ 8-12 (6-player) were in action alongside the pros. Lin K.Y. (林冠妤) in Group Amateurs of Women’s 16-25, Chen M.H. (陳敏薰) in Group Girls’ 12-16, Hsiao Y.K. (蕭育楷) in Group Boys’ 12-16, and Chen L.Y. (陳亮宇) in Group Juniors’ 8-12 are leading in their respective group events.

Final round play begins at 6:30 a.m. with the presentation ceremony set to be hosted at 1:30 on Thursday noon.