132 golfers from 11 countries gather this week at Guangzhou’s Dragon Lake Golf Club for the third annual CTBC Ladies Classic, a Taiwan LPGA and China LPGA co-sanctioned professional event. Taiwan-based CTBC Bank is the title-sponsor.

Chen Yu-Ju (陳宇茹) will be chasing for a repeat for her 2018 victory and the RMB120,000 winning prize, part of the RMB800,000 purse.

The field features 45 of TLPGA Tour’s best, 74 local campaigners from the CLPGA Tour, and 13 special invites, representing Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, and Taiwan. 36 of the pro ladies tested the Dragon Lake layout one last time on Tuesday’s 18-hole pro-am event, joined by 144 amateur players.

“Sports transcends culture; it’s been a big part of our mission and vision in our CTBC Charity Foundation program. Through sport we find the strength and value beyond sporting itself and we learn to make dreams,” said CTBC Bank vice chairman Morris Li. “Golf, especially, has been an integral part of this push. CTBC has a strong record in sponsorship across the sport of golf to empower golfers to go after their dreams and to inspire even more people.”

“We are delighted and thankful to have CTBC as a sponsor to provide these great opportunities for our golfers and build such a beautiful cross-strait bond that see us continue to grow as now a very strong force in women’s golf in Asia,” CLPGA Tour managing director Jennifer Lee said.

Also among the honorary guests in today’s press conference are vice chairman of the Guangdong Province Golf Association and director of Guangdong Province Golf Center Xiong Feng, TLPGA chairwoman Cheng Mei-Chi, managing director of the Dragon Lake Golf Club Fuzhen Wu, and Greenjoy representative Huarui Li.

Shi Yuting (石昱婷) felt grateful to be able to join CTBC’s mission as the brand’s spokesplayer. “I feel very powerful to be able to do what I love and at the same time inspire others to believe in their dreams, just like what I continue to drive myself to in this beautiful sport,” said Shi, who topped the CLPGA Order of Merit in 2016.

This week will see many more of the top tenners from both the 2018 year-end TLPGA Tour and CLPGA Tour money lists teeing up on Thursday, including CLPGA no.2 Supamas Sangchan, a five-time Tour winner from Thailand, and TLPGA no.2 Babe Liu (劉嬿), alongside Renuka Suksukont, last week’s winner in Zhuhai, and world no.191 Liu Wenbo (劉文博).

Defending champion Chen Yu-Ju returns to defend her title at Dragon Lake, who finished her previous CLPGA Tour season as no.9. Joining Chen are 2018 CLPGA Tour’s Most Birdies award winner Liu Yan (劉艷) and Newcomer of the Year Ren Yue (任玥).

Also in the field are another five of TLPGA Tour’s top-11 athletes, Chen Szu-Han (陳思涵), Lee Hsin (李欣), Chen Min-Jou (陳敏柔), Lin Tzu-Chi (林子麒), and Chen Meng-Chu (陳孟竺).

First-round play of the 2019 CTBC Ladies Classic is set to begin at 7:15 a.m. from the first and tenth tees; the afternoon wave will tee off at 11:50.