17-year-old Wu Chia-Yen (吳佳晏), who had two victories under her belt already in this shortened TLPGA Tour season, will head into the final round of the CTBC Ladies Open with a one-shot lead.

The Taiwanese teenager carded a second-round 70 at the Orient Golf & Country Club to rise up three places and top the leaderboard at 5-under, closely followed by Cheng Ssu-Chia (程思嘉), who posted a low-round, blemish-free 67, and overnight leader Babe Liu (劉嬿).

Wu Chia-Yen turned pro this May and quickly found herself in the winners’ circle by outshining the fields at the Nan Pao TLPGA Heritage Tour – first TLPGA Tour event after the lockdown. She made the title count to two in as many outings, winning the WPG Ladies Open in July. Now Wu is poised to complete the “hat-trick” .

“I had a vision to play in the leader’s group in every final round. I think, I’ve been doing pretty good,” said Wu, a former US Women’s Amateur semifinalist. “However, I didn’t feel I’m in a very good form this week. I didn’t hit as accurately as I would like. It plays quite long this week at the Orient, so I wasn’t really setting up many chances and made a couple of bogeys today. It was a nice surprise at the end of the day that I’m not just moving into the leading group, but actually in the lead.”

Cheng Ssu-Chia got off to a dream start, picking up three consecutive birdies to get the round going. The LPGA member made the turn on 4-under and snatched her fifth birdie of the day on the final hole. “I was playing some sharp iron game, but I did face some tricky situations on the back nine when the yardage became longer. I’m glad that I managed well and made some great saves.”

Winner of the recent SUNCITY Golf Camp Heritage Tour winner Hsieh Yu-Ling (謝瑀玲) also turned in a bogey-free score card. She recorded four birdies on Friday to move into solo seventh at 2-under. “Winning the last tournament definitely brings confidence. But every week is a new challenge. I need to stay grounded and work hard and hopefully earn another opportunity tomorrow,” Hsieh said.

Babe Liu took the outright lead after a birdie on the 16th, but gave it back right away on the following 17th hole, where she made double-bogey yesterday. “Yeah, it was a bit unfortunate. But I’m playing much better now, and reading the lines well. I’m hoping for some good fortune tomorrow!”

Today on the 154-yard Hole 13 saw Huang Pei-Wen (黃珮雯), a TLPGA member since 2014, made her first career ace. “I was going from the left and trying to place the ball in front of the green and let it bounce onto it, but it just rolled in,” said Huang. “It feels ‘magical’. I’ve never done it.”

Former world no.1 Yani Tseng (曾雅妮) remained in a slump. She was cut after a pair of rounds in 80s. Talking about the first-round 86, “I haven’t played that bad since about when I was 10 or 12? I’ve been in a rough time, trying a lot of things and new motions. It’s hard, but all I can do its to stay positive and trust myself a bit more.”

Wu, Cheng, and Liu will be the playing partners in the final group on Saturday. They’re set to tee off at 10:30. Winner of the 2020 CTBC Ladies Open will receive a NT$600,000 prize check.