A low-round 4-under 68 helped boost 16-year-old Lu Hsin-Yu (盧昕妤) to rise atop the leaderboard of the KENDA Tire TLPGA Open with a two-round total of 5-under 139. She will be playing in the leader group in tomorrow′s final round, for the first time in her career, alongside overnight leader Saranporn Langkulgasettrin and Lee Hsin (李欣).

Langkulgasettrin, who started the day 3-under par, was pushed back to 1-under through 14 but racked up three birdies in the last three holes to sit just one stroke off. Lee’s equal-best 68 also pumped her from a share of 10th place to solo third, trailing two shots.

The trio will tee off in the final round at 9:30 on Friday morning.

Lu made a double-bogey on the 7th but that didn’t taint her brilliant run on Thursday at the Taifong Golf Club. The teen Taiwanese displayed a stellar iron game which gifted her a handful of birdie chances from within just five feet, as she converted six of them. She couldn′ve made it to the clubhouse with a two-shot lead but a final-hole bogey prevented it.

“I played in the second-to-last group but I’ve never started in the last group in a final round. It′s pretty exciting and both challenging at the same time,Lu said. “I really look forward to playing with my friend Lee Hsin. I think I was equally happy with her when I glanced at the leaderboard and at one point saw her took the second place over Saranporn, who is an awesome player as well.

Lee Hsin recorded five birdies through 17 and an only bogey on 18th to match Lu′s low-round of the day. She needed just 22 putts to tame the difficult greens.

“I don′t feel too bad, because I felt it was a right strategy to cut from the left side with my hybrid, but I just didn′t hit it well enough and it was too left off,” said Lee as she reflected on the 18th-hole blemish. “Overall it has been a confidence booster. But I’m going to just try to stay consistent tomorrow. When I try to make birdies, my past experience says that I would usually end up playing worse.”
First-round leader Langkulgasettrin started off rough with a bogey on the first, and parred the next eight holes before she dropped another shot after the turn as a consequence of a three-putt on the tenth.

“I couldn’t get my iron and wedge game going, missed many greens, but I’m glad that I found my form not too late to wrap it up under-par,” said Langkulgasettrin, who stopped the bleeding with a first birdie on the 15th, and then picked up another two on 17th and 18th to register a 71. “I’ll have to start quicker tomorrow, especially with my short-game. If I can play my game, I’m pretty confident that I have a good shot at coming back again and winning it.”

Huang Pei-Wen (黃珮雯) and Babe Liu (劉依貞) both carded second-best-of-the-day 70s. “I grew up at the Hsin Chu Golf Club which is notorious for the gusty conditions,  said Huang. “So the wind today was no big deal for me. I could use my flat-hitting to cut through it.  She had 13 greens in regulation, five birdies and three bogeys during the day, and slowly climbed up the leaderboard into a tie for sixth with Lin Tzu-Chi (林子麒) (74) and Chen I-Wen (陳依妏) (72). Babe Liu sits solo at fifth. Thailand’s Supamas Sangchan is in solo fourth after a 72 today.

KENDA ambassador, LPGA campaigner Candie Kung′s (龔怡萍) maiden outing on the TLPGA Tour came to an end after a withdrawal due to neck and foot pain and an old elbow injury. She came to the warm-up range but decided not to go to the first tee to avoid any risk of further injury. Kung will be on the Chinese Taipei team next week in the biennial LPGA International Crown team tournament.

Following Thursday′s second round, a cut was made to the low 50 scores and ties, with 59 players (5 amateurs) advancing with scores of 11-over 155 or lower.

The 6th edition of the KENDA Tire TLPGA Open features an international 103-player field from eight countries. The winner will pocket NT$720,000 while the runner-up bags NT$384,000. The TLPGA-organized event is title-sponsored by KENDA Rubber for the sixth consecutive year and has been moved to the current venue since last year following a reconstruction of the old venue, the Taipei Golf Club.