Overnight leader Chen Chih-Min (陳之敏) maintained composure in squally conditions to win the title at the BNP PARIBAS & TLPGA Heritage Tour, a 36-hole TLPGA Tour event.

49 TLPGA pro members competed in this week’s “Heritage Tour” pro-junior series event, who are grouped with young amateurs and junior golfers in a format that allows the youngsters to closely interact with the them. The BNP PARIBAS began its sponsorships for the tournament since 2016. The BNP PARIBAS & TLPGA Heritage Tour is the third and last Heritage Tour event in the 2020 season.

The wind on Ta Shee Golf & Country Club left Chen Chih-Min the lone player to break par in the first round. It came out earlier than yesterday, posting even bigger challenge for the players. The lowest score seen today was only a pair of 73s by Chen Hsuan (陳萱), and Chen I-Wen (陳依妏).

Chen Yu-Ju (陳宇茹), who started the day just one behind, stayed toe-to-toe with Chen Chih-Min on the outward nine. They both went down with an early bogey, continuing to repeat each other’s efforts with a pair of birdies on no.4 and no.5─later equalized by a pair of bogeys on no.7 and no.8─before Chen Yu-Ju finally jumped to co-lead when Chen Chih-Min committed another bogey right after the turn. However, Chen Yu-Ju failed to maintain her level on the closing stretch, making four bogeys in the last six holes and disappointedly dropping to 5-over par 149.

Another contender was Tai Chia-Wen (戴嘉汶), who kept a clean sheet but one birdie on the front nine to join the lead. But she also ran out of gas on the final holes, proceeding with four bogeys inward, ended up in a tie for fifth with Chen Yu-Ju.

Chen Chih-Min, on the other hand, found her cool under pressure. She wrapped up the final-round with six straight pars, carding a 2-over 74 to win by two shots over Huang Ching (黃靖), who mounted a final charge with birdies on the 12th, 14th, and 16th to turn in a 74 on Thursday as well. Chen’s winning total was a 1-over 145.

Chen Chih-Min turned pro just this year, having decided to finish her college golf career in the U.S., after making three attempts in the TLPGA qualifying test to finally earn her status. “I was eager to prove myself. Although this is not a very big tournament, I feel like it is a start of many more good things to come, as long as I keep working hard,” Chen said.

“It was a nerve-wracking experience, though. The girls were super close in the race and not until the final hole that I realized I was the solo leader,” said Chen. “The wind in these past two days was very distracting. It was tough to attack and I wasn’t extremely confident about my putting, so I was kind of playing safe and trying not to drop shots. I felt relived to not let it (the win) slip away from me!”

Cheng Ssu-Chia (程思嘉), with a final-round 75, and Chen Hsuan, who shot a low-round 73, sneaked into the top-3 on 4-over 148.

“It was such an uphill battle with the wind blowing everywhere.” Chen Hsuan said. “I felt I was constantly saving pars yesterday but I think I adjusted well. Took some extra hits after the first-round. And I was much more ready and calm today.”

“I would like to thank again for the support by the BNP PARIBAS, and thanks to the tournament staffs for making another success of event,” said TLPGA chairwoman Liu Yi-Chen on the award ceremony. “It’s a tough season with the pandemic threat but the TLPGA families and the players cooperated to write another rich chapter of stories. The development of the Heritage Tour series hasn’t been easy in particular. But I believe the spirit behind it was important and irreplaceable. We have 16 new, young faces joining the TLPGA Tour this year, who are all very talented. And it is in this year we witnessed a new World No.1 from Taiwan in Hou You-Chiang (候雨薔), who is now one of the best amateurs in the world. Without all your support, the TLPGA Tour cannot be what it is right now.”