The Kaohsiung Entrepreneur Association Ladies Open will commence tomorrow as an international field of 94 players will have to be jockeying through 54 holes at the Sunwood Lake Golf Club in Pingtong, Taiwan, and compete for a total purse of NT$3 million. The event celebrates a couple of firsts – the Sunwood Lake Golf Course will play host to the pro golfers on the TLPGA Tour for the first time in club history; meanwhile, this marks the first TLPGA event title-sponsored by the Kaohsiung Entrepreneur Association. Friday’s winner of the Kaohsiung Entrepreneur Association Ladies Open will earn a NT$540,000 prize check and the runner-up takes away NT$288,000.

This week is the 13th leg of the 15-tournament race on the 2017 TLPGA Tour calendar. With three tournaments remaining on the docket before the announcement of the year-end Pacific Links International Money Winner award, the battle has come down to a two-woman duel. Chen Yu Ju (陳宇茹), no.2 on the 2017 Pacific Links International Money Leaderboard, is currently back of Lee Min (李旻) with a gap of a little more than NT$800,000 – a deficit that could conceivably be overcome with some consistent results in December.

An Pro-Am took place on Tuesday joined by 27 TLPGA Tour pros and more than 80 amateur golfers, which was played in an 18-hole scramble format. The quartet led by TLPGA player Huang Pei Wen (黃珮雯) finished atop the final standings and earned themselves a Mizuno club each as the prelude to the main event was brought to a successful ending under clear, sunny sky around the Sunwood Lake.

Apart from the 55 local Taiwanese women (11 amateurs and juniors included), a strong list of players representing eight countries has assembled, with Thailand sending its 24 elites, second most among the participating nations, alongside China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and the United States. First round play will begin tomorrow morning at 7:30 on the first and tenth tee. Final group of the day is set off to go at 9:25.

Winning experiences fresh from this season have made Thai pair Ploychompoo Wilairungreung (Taiwan Mobile Ladies Open), Saranporn Langkulgasettrin (KENDA TIRES TLPGA Open) two of the pre-tournament favorites. Hwang Ye-Nah of Korea also enjoyed success earlier this year at the ICTSI Champion Tour on the Philippine Golf Tour, hoping to sustain her hot charge on the international tour.

Seasoned TLPGA Tour champions Michelle Koh of Malaysia, Lin Tzu Chi (林子麒) and Chen Yu Ju (陳宇茹) – second-place on Pacific Links International Money Leaderboard of 2016 and of the current season (still running) respectively – will seek to end their title drought in a regular event (54-hole or more, as Chen recorded a 36-hole Heritage Tour victory in June). Players in promising form that could potentially shake up the leaderboard include two other Heritage Tour winners in 2017, Liu Shu Yin (劉書吟) and Lee Tai Ling (李黛翎).

A cut will be made to top 50 and ties after 36 holes on Thursday.

Situated in Pingtung, southern Taiwan, backdrop this week -- the Sunwood Lake Golf Club is privileged with favorable natural geographic conditions, which include a special fan-shaped terrain and a moderately elevated bowl-shaped hill, with its combination of well-designed artificial lakes and streams, making the course amusing but challenging at the same time.

Featuring 27 fairways, the Sunwood Lake Golf Club can be played in two 18-hole combinations. It is the only golf club accommodating two 7,000-yard courses in Taiwan. The competition layout is set at 6,403 yards long at the 2017 Kaohsiung Entrepreneur Association Ladies Open.

The greens average 800 square meters, perfectly blended in nature, are decorated with the artificial lakes and the trickling streams which altogether offer an elegant view. A clubhouse covering a land of 8,250 square meters at the high point of the course proudly gives a soothing panoramic vista.