Mayuna Furukawa of Japan and TLPGA titlist Chonlada Chayanun of Thailand made their way to the top of the first-round leaderboard at the ICTSI Pradera Ladies Classic, overcoming two delays today in typhoon conditions at the Pradera Verde Golf & Country Club.

They ultimately finished their rounds at 3-under 69, one shot clear of Taiwanese trio Chang Hsuan-Ping (張瑄屏), past ICTSI Tour winner Huang Ching (黃靖), and teen amateur Hou Yu-Chiang (侯羽薔)

Local campaigner Daniella Uy, Thai Wad Phaewchimplee and Pimpadsorn Sangkagaro were also in the six-way tie for second. A group of four players lurked at 71, just another shot off the pace, which includes Taiwanese Kuo Ai-Chen (郭艾榛) and Shih Cheng-Hsuan (石澄璇).

Play was paused twice on Wednesday for 33 minutes at 10:55 and 22 minutes at 12:14 due to heavy rain in Lubao, brought by a tropical storm.

Amid the challenging conditions, Japanese Furukawa scored two par-5 eagles to take solo clubhouse lead before Chayanun swept two consecutive birdies on the 7th and 8th (her 16th and 17th hole) to take a share of the top place. Chayanun also had an early stretch of three birdies in a row from Hole 11-13.

Chayanun had her first and only TLPGA Tour title at the 2018 CTBC Ladies Open. This year saw another top-5 finish for the Thai at the season-opening Hitachi Ladies Classic.

The 2019 ICTSI Pradera Ladies Classic features 91 players from nine countries vying for a total purse of $80,000. This is the third and final TLPGT-LPGT (Ladies Philippine Golf Tour) co-sanctioned event in the season -- the fifth season in a row the two tours partner up. The winner will be rewarded a $14,000 first prize. It is overall the ninth stop on the 2019 TLPGA Tour.

Chang Hsuan-Ping, who fell in a downward spiral after lifting the trophy of a 36-hole Heritage Tour event three years ago, finally found some better form here in the Philippines. “I was working very hard to put a little twist in my game here and there, but it didn’t quite work out for me. I was losing confidence,” said Chang. “It’s then become a journey of finding myself back. I’m happy that I’m doing well here.”

Despite twice three-putting, Chang needed just 19 putts in the other 16 holes which earned her birdies on 3rd, 4th, 16th, and 17th. Her fifth and final bogey of the day came on the 6th hole after the first suspension, when she knocked the ball in from 6 feet away from the fringe. She made 9 fairways and 9 greens in regulation.

Huang Ching, current no.8 on the 2019 TLPGA Tour money list, seemed comfortable on the greens as well, needing 27 attempts in the putting position. She made plenty of longer putts and good saves which rewarded her three birdies and there was just one bogey.

“It’s not as easy as it looked. The play was stopped a couple of times, and every time we got back, the green would just feel a little different. You had to kind of reset yourself to find the ideal hitting rhythm,” Huang said. Two of her birdies on the 3rd and 7th were both from 24 feet, and the third one was yet again an impressive play from 12 feet.

Another 12-footer Huang needed to deal with on the 16th green, however, would potentially see her drop shots, but she calmly sank the tricky one. “A Long day out there with the rains but I like how I played and how I was able to stay composed.”

The ICTSI Tour Midlands leg champion in 2018 hit 9 fairways today and made 9 greens in regulation.

On the contrary, amateur Hou Yu-Chiang (侯羽薔), the younger one in the sister act Yu-Sang (侯羽桑) and Yu-Chiang, couldn’t benefit from the putter, making four three-putt bogeys, but well-tamed the windy and wet conditions with superb control over her wood and iron shots.

The teenager picked up an eagle on the par-5 third hole from 97 yards using her 50-degree wedge. And just moments later she recorded another chip-in from 15 yards on the 7th hole. Her precision on the range was key that kept her in contention; she only missed one fairway during the entire day.

“I wasn’t putting well. There were a lot of hidden slopes in the greens and if I hit a bad spot, I could have a hard time. That’s like how it was,” Hou said. “I also tried to avoid the thick grass around the green, but sometimes, as a result, it left me with a tough putt to play. But overall, I think I handled the condition well, having to stop play with just three holes left, but I came back to close it out nicely.”

Hou held one TLPGA Tour title from the TLPGA Ladies Open – Nan Pao last May.

Second-round play will begin at 6:40 from the first and tenth tees. A cut will be made to the top 50 scores before Friday’s final round.