This week the TLPGA travels oversea to Fanling’s Hong Kong Golf Club (HKGC) for the Hong Kong Ladies Open. The tournament will run through three rounds from Jun 10 to 12.

For the second consecutive year, the Hong Kong Ladies Open is a co-sanction event by the TLPGA Tour and LAGT (Ladies Asian Golf Tour). The TLPGA partnered up with the Hong Kong Golf Association in 2015 in an effort to push the growth of golf in Taiwan and across the region. The world ranking points on offer will be the key for local talents to play their way onto international scenes.

The 2016 event will offer a prize fund of US$150,000, which is 25% higher than previously. The top finisher on Sunday will win US$22,500 and the runner-up will earn US$15,000.

Leading players from Taiwan and Hong Kong will enjoy the opportunity to compete against an international field of 111 golfers from Australia, China, Canada, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Scotland, South Africa, Switzerland, and Thailand. There are thirteen amateur players in the field with the youngest at the age of just twelve. Hong Kong’s Chloe Chan will make her first appearance in the TLPGA tournament.

An 18-hole Pro-Am event was held on Wednesday and TLPGA members Huang Hsien-Wen (黃賢雯) and Liang Yi-Lin (梁宜羚) won the first and second-place prizes respectively with their amateur playing partners.

The layout this year is set at 6,246 yards long on the Fanling Course at HKGC. There will be a cut after 36 holes on Saturday to the low 50 and ties.

The TLPGA contingent will be led by last year’s runner-up, 18-year-old Chen Yu-Ju (陳宇茹) and current TLPGA number 2 on the official money list, Lin Tzu-Chi (林子麒). Number 7 Chang Hsuan-Ping (張瑄屏), number 8 Yu Pei-Lin (余珮琳), Japan LPGA member Wei Yun-Jye (魏筠潔), Chen Meng-Chu (陳孟竺), recent Mercuries Life Insurance Heritage Tour winner Yeh Hsin-Ning (葉欣寧), and Lee Chia-Pei (李佳霈), who finished T4 here in 2015 will all be setting sight on the grand prize.

Ploychompoo Wirairungrueng, 21, who just claimed her maiden victory the past Friday on China LPGA Tour at the Zhangjiagang Shuanshan Challenge, and TLPGA Tour titlist Kanphanitnan Muangkhumsakul will be Thailand’s biggest hopes for the crown. Six-time CLPGA Tour winner Pan Yanhong (潘艷紅) and Li Jiayun (黎佳韵), who locked up a second CLPGA Tour victory last month at the Le Coq Sportif Beijing Ladies Classic, are also among the favorites.

Hong Kong’s Tiffany Chan will be looking to embrace local expectation and to add another TLPGA Tour title to her name after winning the TLPGA Future Open presented by High Tech Charity last summer.