Wu Chia-Yen (吳佳晏) and Jessica Peng (彭婕) survived another two rounds at the first CTBC Invitational match-play in blazing hot conditions today at the Tong Hwa Golf & Country Club. They will now face off tomorrow at 12:00 for the title as well as a record-high NT$3 million prize money.

CTBC Bank player An Ho-Yu (安禾佑) and Lee Chia-Pei (李佳霈), who fell against Peng and Wu in the semifinals respectively, will took on each other for the third place.

Wu, who′s made her name at 13 years of age as the youngest player in U.S. Women′s Amateur history to advance to the semifinals, appeared comparatively comfortable this week in match-play, which was a first on the TLPGA professional tour. She was in total control in her morning quarterfinal match against Wang Li-Ning (王莉甯), who was bothered by an old injury, winning 5 and 4.

“I felt pretty good. Had a three-putt on the 10th, but other than that, I was pretty consistent in the morning, but we had already played three rounds in less than two days, I could feel the fatigue in the semis. It was very difficult,” Wu said.

In the quarterfinal duel, Lee saw herself 2-down at the turn, but only until she committed consecutive mistakes and failed to save pars on the 15th and 16th did Lee accept the defeat. Lee was through to the semifinals with a 3-and-2 triumph over Lai Yi-Ting (賴怡廷).

“I didn’t really go with an aggressive game today. The wind was blowing hard, especially in the afternoon, so I was rather just being patient and trying to put the ball closer to the flag, not really thinking about birdies but how not to give the holes away,” Wu said. “I’m proud of myself that I’m in the final. This is what I hoped I could do, and now with a chance to even win it all, I need to keep a cool head, and see how I can react quickly to every change on every hole tomorrow.” Wu, still only 17, held the most TLPGA Tour titles in her rookie season last year with three victories.

Jessica Peng, 11 years elder than Wu, completed a roller-coaster 4 and 2 win in the semifinals against rising star An Ho-Yu. Peng gained the upper hand early in the battle, taking a 2-up lead through five, but An navigated a comeback path right away, winning 6 and 7 to level the match. However, Peng capitalized on some shaky plays from An to regain her lead by claiming No.9, 10, and 12. Despite failing to made the 3-foot putt for the win on the 14th green, Peng confirmed a place into the title match with a par against An’s bogey on the 16th.

“It has been a demanding two days physically. I had some new blisters from yesterday and I was cramping badly after playing 35 holes. Today, I felt like I was literally dragging myself through the semis,” Peng said. “I was feeling heavy in the body but actually pretty light in the mind, because sometimes you can’t really control the outcome in match play. All you can do is to make sure you play your part; if your opponent was simply too good, then okay, she was the better player on the day and there was nothing to be ashamed of.” Peng upset 2020 CTBC Ladies Open champion Hsieh Yu-Ling (謝瑀玲) earlier in the day, 3 and 1.

For An, who became the newest athlete in the CTBC Bank roaster, said she faced a Peng whose iron game was “insanely good”. “I didn’t think I started too badly, placing the ball on the right spots on the greens, but Jessica was playing even better. I remember I hit to just 9 feet from the hole from a difficult position on No.1, and I was like ‘that was a really good shot,’ but Jessica just replied with a beautiful approach to 6 feet, and put in that birdie putt to take the hole. That kind of killed my confidence,” An said. “I was feeling pressured all the time, missed some important putts which could have made some difference, and couldn’t really have the momentum on me.”

“We’ll have more time to rest for a late start on Sunday, some precious time to also reset myself and shrug off the bad feelings, hopefully I will end this week on a win,” said An, referring to the third-place match against Lee, which tees off at 11:52 tomorrow. She used a 5-and-4 beatdown over Chen Szu-Han (陳思涵) in the quarterfinals to secure her Sunday ticket in her first tournament as a professional.

32 TLPGA Tour stars were invited into the very first Match-Play event on the tour. The 2021 CTBC Invitational, originally the CTBC Ladies Open for the past eight years, is rewarding the winner, after five rounds of battle, with the biggest ever prize check worth NT$3 million. Set at 6,829 yards long, and with the green speed increased to 9.5 and the roughs growing 2 inches taller, the CTBC Invitational features one of the most challenging backdrops to play against in TLPGA Tour history. The Tong Hwa Golf & Country Club, under strict measures and New Taipei City government instructions against COVID, allows the players this week to take off their masks to release their full strengths.