Yang Fei-Chien (楊斐茜) overcame a 6-shot deficit to snatch her first professional win at the 36-hole YICHEN Heritage Tour.

Yang carded a 3-under 69 on Wednesday to complete with a 36-hole total of 2-under 142, beating Hsieh Yu-Ling (謝瑀玲), Lynn Chiu (邱齡緹) and overnight leader Chen Meng-Chu (陳孟竺) by one stroke.

Yang grabbed the scoring opportunities in three of the four par-5s, holing out from the edge of the green for her third birdie on the day, which, looking back, proved to be the deciding moment of her victory. She didn’t leave any blemish on her scorecard in her final-round 3-under. “I was pretty sure we were heading into play-off. So when they told me that I won, I was really, really surprised,” said Yang, a TLPGA Tour sophomore. “To be honest, I saw myself taking a first win this year. That is what I’ve been working so hard for. I’m really glad that I can check this off from my goal list today!”

“I would like to thank my dear daddy who has helped me so much the whole way in my golf career. The wait has been a little longer than we expected, and finally, I won another championship trophy after my victory during the 2019 GAROC amateur event,” Yang said.

For the 21-year-old, her next aim would be at a win in a 54-hole open tournament and top-300 in the world rankings, “with that ranking, I hope I will have the chance to pass the test and play on the Japan LPGA Tour.”

Chen Meng-Chu, who was sleeping on the lead……and a swelling left ankle, missed just too many putting chances, which wiped away her winning hopes. “I had my chances on every of the final four holes, the ball landed on the greens on decent positions, but I just couldn’t make any of them in,” said a heavily-taped Chen, who picked up a small ankle fracture near the end of last season and re-injured it this week.

The woman who made seven birdies yesterday failed to take even one birdie opportunity throughout the round, turning in a 4-over 76 after four bogeys, with two of them happening in the opening holes, which saw her surpassed by Lynn Chiu very quickly.

Chiu, who were tied on the lead through sixteen holes, dropped a shot in the 17th and finished the day on 1-under-par 71. Hsieh Yu-Ling was the one holding a final opportunity to push Yang into the sudden-death, but a missed 3-footer on the 18th green decided the fate.

Song C.E. (宋佳恩) and Wong T.Y. (汪天茵) also earned their come-from-behind victories in their respective amateur groups.

The YICHEN Heritage Tour is the first TLPGA Tour event after a three-month long lockdown due to COVID concerns. Backdrop this week is Lily Golf & Country Club, a new partner of the TLPGA Tour.

The 36-hole “Heritage Tour” event features a special format in which the pros and amateur players are paired in the same group so the young ones can closely interact with the elites and pick up valuable learning experience.