China’s Yang Taoli (楊濤麗) and Thailand’s Panuma Vitayakonkomol shared the lead after the first round at the 2016 CTBC Ladies Open. The duo finished at 4-under 68 on Thursday at the Orient Golf & Country Club and is one shot clear of a seven-way tie for third at 69, which include CTBC Bank sponsored athletes Yeh Hsin-Ning (葉欣寧) and Shi Yuting (石昱婷). The tournament will give away a total NT$5 million purse and a champion prize of NT$1 million.

Yeh used her 8-iron to ace the 124-yard 2nd, which was her second career hole-in-one after the second round at Chico’s Pattry Berg Memorial on United States’ Symetra Tour this April, to win a Hitachi air conditioner and a NT$20,000 cash prize provided by the Orient Golf and Country Club.

Also at equal third are Thai trio Wannasiri Sirisampant, Saranporn Langkulgasettrin, Pakpring Duangchan, China’a Zhang Weiwei (張維維) and Korean So Young Jang.
Thailand’s Saranporn Langkulgasettrin registered a scorching eight birdies against just one bogey on the second day of the CTBC Ladies Open to surge to the lead at 10-under 134. The 16-year-old will now take a three-stroke advantage heading into the final round on Saturday.

Overnight co-leader, China’s Yang Taoli (楊濤麗) shot a 3-under 69 and now at 7-under 137. Home favorite and the top-ranked woman in the field Teresa Lu (盧曉晴) made a late charge to finished with a low-round 65. She is in a four-player tie for third and four shots off with Aretha Pan (67) of Malaysia, Shi Yuting (石昱婷) (69) and Zhang Weiwei (張維維) (69) of China.

Vitayakonkomol , Yang and Lu are the featured player for Saturday’s final round that sets off at 10:10 a.m.

Equal seventh place sees Taiwan’s Chen Yu-Ju (陳宇茹) and Korean So Young Jang at 139. Yeh Hsin-Ning (葉欣寧) (71), who recorded her second career hole-in-one yesterday, are six shots behind at 140 and tied with Yu Pei-Lin (余珮琳) (69) and German Leticia Ras Anderica (69).

With heavy rains threatening, the tournament allowed players to clean the ball and take “preferred lies” within club distance, which gave away easier conditions to score.

Turning pro at a tender 15 years of age last March, Vitayakonkomol already holds six wins on her home tour, most recently just this past week at Khon Kaen. She displayed a faultless front nine to make the turn at 6-under 30.

The Thai teen, who had her father as caddie, kept her hot hand going after the turn, carding consecutive birdies on 10th and 11th to bring the birdie count to eight.

“Everything worked great, the woods, irons, and putter. I was hoping to break my personal low if I could keep it up at 8-under, but then I made a mistake coming close to the finish line,” said Vitayakonkomol, who had a lone bogey in the round after a three-putt on par-4 17th. She made 12 fairways and got onto 17 greens in regulation. She needed 29 in putting category.

This week has been Vitayakonkomol’s third tournament on the TLPGA Tour. The best finish has been a T15 at January’s Hitachi Ladies Classic. She will be aiming at her first international victory.

Teresa Lu fired her second shot on the final hole today from 220 yards to just 4 feet and made the eagle putt to bring her total score to a low-round 7-under. “No short putting today, which was the major difference,” said Lu. “I changed the putter actually and hope I will continue with this level of aggression in my putting tomorrow.”

Lu made one eagle, six birdies and one bogey in the 65, needing 28 putts with satisfying numbers in fairways hit (14) and greens in regulation (16).

Fellow CTBC Bank ambassador Yeh Hsin-Ning carded a 1-under 71 but still was pushed back from T3 to T9. Yeh was off to a dream start with three birdies after four holes but started to lose her touch on the greens, ended up using 33 putts. “Not great at all. I feel as gloomy as the skies,” Yeh said jokingly. “I was like playing some video game characters. Everybody else just played unreal, picking up birdies everywhere. But they say it’s going to be rainy and very tough conditions tomorrow, so six shots can still be within striking zone.”

Veteran and mother player Yang Taoli did not make any bogey in her second-round 3-under 69. She said she would try to use her experience gained on the Japan LPGA Tour to try to steal a first TLPGA Tour win. 18-year-old Chinese teen star Shi Yuting also carded bogey-free 69 but missed some birdies chances to go lower with 32 putts. Shi will be looking to take her second title in 2016 after capturing the season-opening event on the China LPGA Tour in Zhuhai.

The CTBC Ladies Open provides not just a stage for international golfers but a platform to inspire and raise awareness of social issues. It’s been in partnership with the CTBC Charity Foundation for the last five years of the event. There are 108 women from seven countries around Asia competing this week at the CTBC Ladies Open, co-sanctioned by the TLPGA Tour and the China LPGA Tour with world ranking points on offer. The tournament will give away a total NT$5 million purse and a champion prize of NT$1 million.