With the total purse rising from NT3 million to 3.5 million, the 2019 Nan Yi Professional Golf Ladies Open will tee off tomorrow at Tainan’s Nan Yi Golf Club.

Previously named the Tainan Professional Golf Ladies Open, the 2019 event will feature 62 of Asia’s best female pro golf athletes from six countries, joined by 13 elite local amateurs to make up the 75-player field. The winner on Friday will pocket NT$630,000.

This is the first and only TLPGA tournament the Nan Yi Golf Club has ever hosted. Returning as the main sponsors this week are Tong Yang Group, Ta Yih Group, and TYC Brother Industrial.

Players got to test the course and their skills one last time as a traditional Pro-Am event took place on Tuesday. Hsieh Yu-Ling (謝瑀玲) led her three amateur teammates to the victory with an impressive team score of 15-under 57.

“The weather hasn’t been kind to the Nan Yi Course lately, but I can see it’s been tremendous hard work by the staff, who keep the course in fantastic shape and ready for such a special event this week,” said Wu, Tong Yang Group president.

“There have been some extreme weather conditions these past two months, and it really took a lot out of our maintaining team to get it back to the best playing conditions for the professional ladies, but it’s all worth it,” said Nan Yi Gold Club president Mr. Tsai. “We made the decision to actually renovate the greens, which should give this tournament a new, lively vibe.”

Four of the top-10 on the 2019 TLPGA Tour money list have entered the field, headlined by the no.4 ranked Chen Hsuan (陳萱) and no.6 Lin Tzu-Chi (林子麒). Other local favorites include no.7 Chang Ching-Ling (張靖翎), no.8 Huang Ching (黃靖), Hsieh Yu-Ling, Shih Cheng-Hsuan (石澄璇), Chen I-Wen (陳依妏), Chen Szu-Han (陳思涵), and Wu Chih-Yun (吳芷昀).

There are some notable teen talents on the list such as Lu Hsin-Yu (盧昕妤), Wu Chia-Yen (吳佳晏), and Chen Ling-Jie (陳伶潔), who just won the low-amateur title at the TLPGA & Royal Open this past week.

“There are only four greens that remain the same as last year. You really got to observe and study the layout very carefully because no previous experience should help here,” said Lin. “You would not want to hit in the roughs at the Nan Yi course. It’ll just swallow it up and it is really hard for the club to make a solid contact with the ball. But the course is in incredible shape. Very well-maintained, from the fairways to the greens.”

“I predict that you will need to get to at least 9-under for the win; if the weather is bad, then you probably need to shot 3-under,” said Lin, who finished in a tie for fourth last week at the Royal Kuan-Hsi Club.

There will be a cut to the top-50 and ties after the second-round.

First-round play will begin at 7:00 on Wednesday morning.

The Nan Yi Golf Club can be spotted with 58 bunkers and 11 ponds, offering a great challenge for players as they navigate through the 6,278-yard long competition layout.

The fairways on Nan Yi are mostly south-north oriented in order to avoid direct sunlight as golfers take their swings, and to redirect wind to make the course delightfully cool and pleasant in the summer. The 18-hole international standard track features fairways carpeted with silt grass and doff-grassed greens. The whole course is kept freshly green all year round.