Lee Hsin (李欣) carded a second-round 4-under 68 today at the WPG Ladies Open, heading into the final-round on 3-under par 141 and two-shot clear of Shih Cheng-Hsuan (石澄璇), Lynn Chiu (邱齡緹), and amateur Liao Hsin-Chun (廖信淳).

TLPGA Tour No.1 Wu Chia-Yen (吳佳晏), the tournament’s 2022 champion and 2021 runner-up, shot an improved 70 from yesterday’s 74, moving back to even-par and three shots off the lead. “My short game hasn’t been quite up to standard, which should’ve been my weapon,” said Wu, who is now in a five-way tie for fifth with Juliana Hung (洪玉霖), Tai Yu-Shan (戴佑珊), Liang Yi-Ling (梁宜羚), and Yu Pei-Lin (余珮琳). “I’ll need to keep the ball low tomorrow to minimize the risks and see if I can stay low in the scores.”

Tee times were put off due to fog this morning at the Sunrise Golf & Country Club. Play was resumed after 3.5 hours.

Lee Hsin’s on-target putting gave her a real chance at winning her first professional title. She needed just 26 putts, second best putting record from all players in the second-round, which converted five birdies. Highlight of the day was 60-footer on the 4th. “Playing at Sunrise, placement on the greens is key,” said Lee. “Honestly, I wasn’t feeling too good with the bigger 5 and 6 iron. I’ll need to stay patient with them in the final round.”

17-year-old amateur Liao Hsin-Chun made three birdies and one bogey, replacing Wu Chun-Wei (吳純葳) as the low amateur right now. Liao was happy about her short game especially, which helped her hit an impressive 15 greens in regulation.

Looking sharp early in the round, Lynn Chiu sank five birdie putts in her outward nine. However, her fitness level dropped late into the day, making her third and fourth bogey on the back nine without further scoring to settle for just a 1-under 71. Chiu hit 11 greens, and needed 28 putts on the them.

Representing New Zealand, Juliana Hung also started off brightly jumping into equal second through 14 holes, after picking up five birdies up to then. But Hung bogeyed no.16 and no.17 in a row to close the day on even-par 144. The two-time winner in 2021 is now three shots off the lead.

First-round co-leader Shih Cheng-Hsuan made a bogey on the 18th hole to close the second round on even par, with three birdies and three bogeys on the scorecard. Another overnight co-leader Chen Min-Jou (陳敏柔) still held the lead through 14 holes, but a sudden drop of concentration saw her slump down five shots in the following three holes. She wrapped up the second round in a tie for 14th, trailing six shots.

The Sunrise Golf & Country Club plays host to 85 players in the third annual WPG Ladies Open, now a NT$10-million premier event this week. The winner will get $NT2 million.

WPG, an ESG-friendly, global-leading distributor of semiconductor components, leverage its relations in the industry, pulling in six more sponsors into the event and increasing the purse from NT$6 million in 2021 to $10 million, more than doubled when it was first held in 2020 (NT$4.5 million).