A packed three-way tie on the lead was formed with just 18 holes to go at the Taiwan Mobile Ladies Open. Chen Chih-Min (陳之敏), Lee Hsin (李欣), and Hanna Chen (陳子涵) were all at 2-under par 142, just one shot lower than another three players. Current TLPGA Tour no.1 Wu Chia-Yen (吳佳晏), LPGA Tour winner Hsu Wei-Ling (徐薇淩), and amateur player Huang Ting-Hsuan (黃亭瑄) rose into equal fourth place at 141.

With a reoccurring wrist pain that aggravated during the first round, Chen Chih-Min needed to take three painkilling tabs before today’s play. “I went to have an acupuncture treatment after the first round, but I still feel so painful that I thought of quitting on the seventh hole,” Chen said. “But I just tried to play one more shot, and another, and another…. With the pain, I actually felt more concentrated. I just went for every shot, not thinking about the scores or anything else. It turned out I did surprisingly well. I’m going to keep a hot pack on the wrist and try to recover as much as it could.”

In the damp conditions at the Tong Hwa Golf Course these couple of days, the greens were slowed down drastically. Lee Hsin made quick adjustments from day one, sinking a string of long putts to make five birdies, offset by three bogeys, and finishing with a decent showing of 2-under 70. “I think I did well, especially under the wind,” Lee said. “I feel pretty good about my game right now, but it’s going to be all mental in the final round.” Hanna Chen also carded a 70 to match the lead.

Three-time tour winner in 2021 and Money List leader Wu Chia-Yen bounced back from a Wednesday 75 to a low-round 68 today, moving from 21st to equal second on the leaderboard. She hit 15 greens in regulation and made four birdies, zero bogey. “I played more aggressive golf, the short game improved a lot, and I hit many greens, which was great. I felt a lot more comfortable and focused on scoring not having to worry about dropping shots.”

Hsu Wei-Ling again needed 30-plus putts, making 17 on the front-nine and 14 on the back-nine, to tough out the round with an even par 72. She drained three birdies, but cancelled out by three bogeys. “I haven’t got much time to really warm up to the playing conditions in Taiwan after returning from the LPGA Tour,” said Hsu, who sent her second shot into the water on the par-5 12th and was temporarily in black number, but quickly made birdies to bring it to back to red number. “I still don’t feel very comfortable on the greens. I mean, putting on the greens, in the U.S., it’s literally ‘on’ the greens, but it feels more like ‘in’ the greens here in Taiwan. It’s harder to figure the break and decide the speed.”

Huang Ting-Hsuan, who achieved her best appearance making the round of 64 in this year’s U.S. Amateur Championship, shot a 70 to sit in a tie with Wu and Hsu. Kiwi Taiwanese Juliana Hung (洪玉霖) turned in a 70 as well to rise into solo seventh at 144.

First-round leader Liu Peng-Shan (劉芃姍) fell back in a tie for eighth at 145 after a Thursday 77. Also in the four-way tie were Chen Yu-Ju (陳宇茹), Erica Huang (黃郁評), and Lee Min (李旻). Lee scored the lone eagle in this round on the 17th, where she made the green on the second shot with her 3-wood followed by a beautiful 15-footer.

The NT$5-million Taiwan Mobile Ladies Open is the final pit stop on the 2021 TLPGA Tour. 62 players on 15-over par or lower advanced into the final round. Friday’s action is set to begin at 8:40.