Chen Yu-Ju (陳宇茹) of Taiwan hoisted the 16th TLPGA & Royal Open winner’s trophy after winning on the fourth hole of a sudden-death play-off to fend off young challenger, 17-year-old amateur Chang Tzu-Yi (張子怡). The winning 21-foot putt earned her a second career victory and a NT$1,080,000 prize check.

The low amateur honor goes deservingly to Chang, who held the outright lead all the way until dropping her only shot on the par-5 18th, while Chen sinking her seventh birdie of the day to level things up and forcing a play-off.

Chen fired a 6-under 66 on Sunday’s final round, consisting of seven birdie and one bogey, to bring her final total to 6-under 210. She made a late charge which saw her drain two birdie putts out of the last three holes to complete a back-nine 32, which was just enough to push her up to the top of the leaderboard alongside Chang.

Chang, who had also a near perfect round with five birdies herself, wrapped it up with a combined 54-hole 6-under as well after missing a decisive 6-footer which resulted in a final-hole bogey. The two returned to Hole no.18 for a sudden-death.

On the first play-off hole, it was Chen’s turn to fail a birdie attempt within just seven feet, but she didn’t let a second chance slip, which was set up by a penetrating chip-in landing just three feet from the cup. However, under tremendous pressure, her teenage opponent made a clutch birdie putt from fifteen feet away to bring both players back to the tee for the third time, but still couldn’t break the tie with matching pars.

The pair went toe-to-toe again on the fourth play-off hole as both caught the left edge of the green on their third strokes, and decided to take out their putter to pull the final trigger from similar positions. Chang went first and left a tap-in distance for par.

Chen, with her breath held, watched her ball roll in and found her feet in the air in pure excitement. This gave her a second win in an official 54 or 72-hole tournament. The first came earlier this year at the CTBC Ladies Classic in Guangzhou.

“I’m really happy after such a long day,” said the current TLPGA Tour money leader. “I want to say ‘thank you’ from the bottom of my heart to my main sponsors Fubon Financial and CRC healthcare. I’ll keep on working and hopefully, I’ll be able to take my third title by the end of the season. It was the goal I set for myself.”

Chen is currently no.37 on the money list of the second-tier KLPGA Tour. In November, there will be a qualifier event for the main Tour in 2019. She has scheduled two more tournaments in September, one in Thailand and one would be the KENDA TIRE & TLPGA Open the week after.

Chang, still just 17, is the reigning champion of the 15-18 Girls Division at the IMG Academy Junior Golf Championship this July. “It’s been a breakthrough week for me for sure. Although I didn’t win, I feel great that I’ve achieved way beyond what I expected for myself,” said Chang, who was only hoping for an even-par finish on Day 1, and that she would hand in under-par scores on both the front and back nine today, which she did.

Chen Szu-Han’s (陳思涵) low-round, bogey-free 65 boosted her up into a tie for third with 15-year-old prodigy Wu Chia-Yen (吳佳晏) (67) and Chen Meng-Chu (陳孟竺) (68), each adding NT$432,000 in the prize money count.

Overnight leader, Taiwanese amateur Hou Yu-Chiang (侯羽薔) moved down into solo sixth after carding a final-round 71 to finish with a combined 4-under 212.

Defending champion Pauline del Rosario from the Philippines and TLPGA titlist Ploychompoo Wirairungreung from Thailand conclude this week at T7 and 3-under 213.