Taiwan’s Tokyo 2020 contestants Hsu Wei-Ling (徐薇淩) and Lee Min (李旻) headline the field at the Taiwan Mobile Ladies Open, the culminating event on the 2021 TLPGA Tour. Nine out of the top-10 on this year’s Money Leaderboard and a total of 56 pros and 30 amateur players will be teeing off in the NT$5 million tournament on Wednesday, taking place at the Tong Hwa Golf Club.
The only multiple titlists in 2021 in Wu Chia-Yen (吳佳晏) and Kiwi Taiwanese Juliana Hung (洪玉霖) will be hoping to close the season on a high note. Both only on their second year on the pro tour, 17-year-old Wu bagged three victories at the CTBC Invitational, Wistron Ladies Open, and the Party Golfers Ladies Open, while Hung, 19, got the last laugh at the KENDA Tires TLPGA Open and SAMPO Ladies Open.
They are coming into this week in amazing form as well, wrapping it up inside the top-3 at the most recent WPG Ladies Open where Wu mounted a late surge to finish in solo second, as Hung managed to finish just one shot higher.
In fact, Wu has registered three TLPGA Tour victories for the second season in a row. She is now leading on the 2021 Official Money List. And with a whopping NT$2.2 million lead over no.2 Chien Pei-Yun (錢珮芸), Wu has almost guaranteed to finish the year as no.1, a rare feat for a teenager. Chien, unfortunately, wouldn’t be able to defend her 2020 win because of quarantine restrictions as she just recently concluded her 2022 LPGA Tour qualification run.
Chien will be the lone top-10 player to miss this week. All nine other top-10s will be in action, including two-time TLPGA Tour winner Shih Cheng-Hsuan (石澄璇), 2019 Taiwan Mobile Open runner-up Babe Liu (劉嬿), and KLPGA’s Dream Tour victor Chen Yu-Ju (陳宇茹).
Biggest names to return to the Tong Hwa course are Hsu Wei-Ling and Lee Min, who represented Chinese Taipei at the Olympic Games this past summer.
Hsu became the sixth player in Taiwanese history to claim an LPGA title this May when she sealed the deal with one eagle and one birdie in the final four holes to conquer the Pure Silk Championship by two strokes. Two weeks later, 54-hole leader Lee Min ended up in the second place at the Mediheal Championship, her best finish on the LPGA Tour. Lee, fresh off a win at the WPG Ladies Open earlier this month, looks to keep the momentum and make it two for two!
Notable challenger from the amateur talents saw Huang Ting-Hsuan (黃亭瑄), who is the top-ranked amateur on the 2021 TLPGA Tour. Huang just created her best appearance with a round of 64 showing at the U.S. Amateur Championship this August.
Players tested the course for one last time in a traditional pro-am today. A cut will be made after the second round; only the top-50 and ties can make it to the final round on Friday. |