Shih Cheng-Hsuan (石澄璇) came from two shots behind to steal the victory at the inaugural Wistron Ladies Open. Her 54-hole total of 3-under 213 beat Cheng Ssu-Chia (程思嘉) by one shot.

This is the second TLPGA Tour title for Shih. The win is worth NT$1,080,000. The brand-new event features the biggest prize purse post-lockdown with a total prize money of NT$6 million.

The only other two players to finish in red figures were Babe Liu (劉嬿) and Wang Li-Ning (王莉甯) at 215. Chang Tzu-Yi’s (張子怡) carded 71 on Friday to wrapped up on even-par 216, capturing the low-amateur honor.

The weather conditions today at the Tong Hwa Golf & Country Club were still not ideal at times with the winds continuing to roar, but the torrential rains that threw off the tempo of many big-name players yesterday had gone.

Going into Friday on 5-under, overnight leader Lee Min (李旻) maintained her pace as well as her 2-shot advantage through eight holes, having made two birdie and two bogeys.

Shih, who didn’t start the day as well as she had hoped, bogeying the 5th and 6th in a row and falling to three strokes off the pace, rose back in challenger mode finding birdies on hole 7, 8, and 12 and stole the lead.

“I was pretty disappointed to start the round with two bogeys, didn’t think that I would chase her (Lee Min) down, but then she made some mistakes, and suddenly, I became the leader,” Shih said, talking about how Lee, leader through 8, falling out of contention in dramatic fashion. Lee was thrashed by two bogeys and a triple-bogey in just four holes, going from 5-under back to even par. Meantime, Shih scored her third birdie on the par-5 12th to reassure a two-shot cushion over Cheng, her closest competition then.

Shih and Cheng each made one bogey in the closing stage. Although Cheng created for herself an opportunity with a birdie off par-3 16th, but Shih remained composed and shut the door. “I really just kept telling myself to stay relaxed when I overtook the lead, trying to keep a cool head and not think about winning too much,” Shih said. “This was a surprise. I didn’t have a good history at Tong Hwa. The weather conditions haven’t been too kind. So, I am very happy to complete with a 3-under.” Shih won at the 36-hole BNP Paribas & TLPGA Heritage Tour event last year. This is her first official 54-hole tournament win.

“I wasn’t really moving low that I didn’t think I stood a chance,” said Cheng, who, by surprise, found herself just one shot away from lead after she birdied the par-5 12th hole. “I started to hit more freely after the turn. It turned out pretty well. I looked at the leaderboard when I went to the 14th tee and realized I was so close. But I couldn’t really feel the green and left the 14th with a bogey. That’s really been the story this week. I felt I was still figuring out the green speed until that last moment.”

Wang Li-Ning collected six birdies at the expense of four bogeys, closing with a low-round 2-under 70 on the final day. Her courage to play more attacking golf was rewarded as she rose into a tie for third with Babe Liu.

Chang Tzu-Yi won a “bet” with father that she was going to snatch the low-amateur title, her first in two years. “I didn’t come into this week very confident, because I was really stressed with school stuffs and the mid-term exams,” said the sophomore at the University of California, Berkeley. “I started the week a little tense, but then I found more peace from day two and played better and better as the game progressed. I have been practicing meditation and I think it helps my mental side of the game. I’m pleased with my performance this week.”