Taiwan’s Tsai Pei-Ying (蔡佩穎) and Japanese Naruha Miyata continued to match the pace with each other and kept themselves on the top of the leaderboard with second round 69s at the 2019 Japan Taiwan Friendship Udon-Ken Ladies Golf Tournament in Kagawa, Japan.

The JPY20,000,000 event, co-sanctioned by the Taiwan LPGA Tour and the Japan LPGA’s Step-Up Tour, is played at the Mannou Hills Country Club.

The duo is now at 8-under 136, moving into the final round on Sunday with a two-shot lead. Step-Up Tour money leader, Thai Nook Sukapan and Japanese Moeka Nishihata both carded 68 on Saturday, sitting tied for third at 138.

Tsai Pei-Ying, who possesses memberships on both tours, fell behind at the start of the round to her hard-charging playing partner Miyata, who scored a pair of birdies on the four holes. But she quickly found the next gear, birdieing hole no.6 and 7 to move back into equal lead.

Miyata survived a scare on the 14th tee when her tee shot hit the trunk in the left woods and was redirected back in the roughs. She left with a par on the second most difficult hole in the no.14. However, she couldn’t escape the fate and made the only bogey in the round on the 15th while Tsai went briefly ahead after a third birdie.

But right on the following hole, the Japanese bounced back with a miraculous birdie from 45 feet away to level Tsai. The two will be teeing off at 10:00 on Sunday morning, joined by Sukapan who made a chip-in eagle from 30 feet, plus three birdies, making only one bogey on the day.

“I didn’t really feel the green speed with some light rains during the day, found it a little slower than I thought it was, missed a couple of birdie chances on the back-nine. The only one going in was on the 15th green, but actually I needed two attempts from three feet, so a lot could be improved,” said Tsai.

“I was hitting pretty well overall. I’m hoping I will maintain this level to put pressure on the other girls,” Tsai said of her strategies for the final round. “Miyata and Sukapan hit bigger than me, especially Nook, she had a lot of power, but which means I might always be the first to attack the green. Hopefully I get to made some quality approaches to pressurize them.”

Huang Ching (黃靖) looked to post a threat to the leading pack, notching up four birdies without a blemish through 13. But she leaked to many mistakes in the late round, missing the green and the 15-feet par putt on the par-3 14th, followed by a double-bogey on the 16th and a three-putt bogey on the 17th. She closed out the round with a disappointing even-par 72, sitting in a tie for eighth at 141.

“I was putting so well. I think I used only 13 on the front-nine. But that wild wood shot on the 14th kind of cut my momentum and I got panicked a bit,” said Huang. “I was still happy with my position. I played here two years ago but I didn’t make the cut. Now I still stand a chance.”

The cutline was set at 4-over 148 at the end of Saturday, sending 56 players into the final day.

The champion on Sunday will win a sponsor slot into the Fujisankei Ladies Classic (main JLPGA Tour) and the Hitachi Ladies Classic (TLPGA Tour) in 2020, and will be sent directly into the third-stage of the JLPGA Tour qualifying event for the next season. The victor will get a year’s worth of Nishino Kinryo Japanese Sake as a bonus prize.

Special prizes up for grabs include a JPY500,000 cheque, provided by Imabari Shipbuilding, for players to ace the 17th hole in the last round, as well as a JPY300,000 cheque, provided by Nishino Kinryo, for players to eagle the 18th hole.