Juliana Hung (洪玉霖) made a chip-in birdie on the 18th hole in the second round of the WPG Ladies Open to match the pace of overnight leader Lee Min (李旻) on 3-over 147. The duo will carry a three-shot advantage into Friday’s final round.

Wind was still going strong at the Sunrise Golf Club but not as brutal as in the first round. Three players finished in red numbers and the low-round 70 was carded by Hung, who got started with back-to-back birdies on the first two holes, and shut the gap down finally with a hole-out birdie from chipping distance on the final hole.

Lee, on the other hand, despite also starting the day with a birdie, never really got things going. She carded two bogeys on the 14th and 17th to turn in a 73. “It felt like I had a smooth ride with twelve straight pars from no.2 to no.13 but that was actually very difficult because I saved a lot of shots. I was not able to get to the flag as close as I needed.”

Lee, still titleless in 2021, had a goal in her to take at least one victory every season and tomorrow will be one of her final two chances with only two tournaments left on the schedule. “I’ll have to do my part, keep myself upbeat, play brave, and we’ll have to see how other girls do, if they would let me take it,” Lee said.

Hung, who boasts two victories in this year, wasn’t particularly confident on her long-rangers but maintained good patience in seek of her opportunities to close in. “In these challenging conditions, it’s key to remain very patient. No one is going to score low, so just keep griding,” the Kiwi-Taiwanese said.

Chen Yu-Ju (陳宇茹), a KLPGA’s Dream Tour titlist, said the pandemic took away her membership on the tour for being unable to fulfill entry duties. “It was tough to take at the first place, but now I’ve moved on. I was just back from the LPGA tests. Hopefully I would find my feet in the U.S. more quickly with my experience playing overseas in Korea,” said Chen, who would have been just one shot off the lead going 2-under through 16 but two consecutive bogeys on the last two holes made things trickier.

Lee Hsin (李欣) shot an even-par 72 as well. Coached by former champion Huang Yu-Chen, Lee kept her error count low in the wind and occasional iron brilliance moved her up into the top-3. Lynn Chiu (邱齡緹), who needed just 27 putts, made three birdies and two bogeys to shoot a 71, sitting within striking distance.

Defending champion Wu Chia-Yen (吳佳晏) fell into a tie for sixth after a disappointing 75.

After three bogeys and no birdie income on the front nine, Wu’s second shot on the 10th from 90 yards away fell near the pin and carried into the cup by a beautiful backspin for eagle. But she failed to ride the momentum, ending with another bogey on the 16th, where she repeated the poor effort from the first round, to finish on 5-over 149.

Hole-in-one cash prizes are up for grabs on No.2, 4, 11, and 16, presented by WPG Holdings. Lin Tzu-Chi (林子麒) on the 11th hole today almost pulled the achievement but the ball touched the lip of the cup and slid by.

The WPG Ladies Open is the seventh leg of the 2021 TLPGA Tour. The winner emerged from 75 participants will add a valuable NT$1.1 million to the ranking on the 2021 TLPGA Tour money leaderboard.

49 players at 21-over or lower were given tickets into Friday after a cut. Hung, Lee, and Chen will play in the final flight on Friday at 10:50.