2019 Taiwan Mobile Ladies Open saw the name “Lin Tzu-Chi” (林子麒) etched on the winner’s trophy.

The now 32-year-old returned as “Lin Shan-Wei” (林善葳) this week at the sixth Taiwan Mobile Ladies Open.

“Sometimes, you got to believe in some supernatural power,” said Lin about the real reason behind the name change. “I’ve gotten a lot of checks by many doctors on a heart problem that has been bothering me for years. But none of them can specify what really causes the occasional sharp pain in my left chest.”

“So, I turned to a fortune-teller around the start of the new year.”

“He said to me that the ‘Tzu’ in my name indicates something related to ‘rat’ and that disrupts the heart rhythm, so he suggested this new name Shan-Wei,” Lin said. “At first, it was just another random idea out of desperation. But then I felt ‘why not?’ And funny enough, this unknown heart problem never came back since I changed my name. Sometimes you just have to believe.”

“And my mom supported it, because he also indicated this new name would help with my love relationships, so……,” Lin added.

Not with a name change, but a nationality change. Juliana Hung (洪玉霖) plays her first event with Chinese Taipei nationality this week. The two-time TLPGA Tour titlist in 2022 was born in Kaohisung, Taiwan but she holds dual nationality and chose to play under the New Zealand flag as she’s been looking up to Kiwi golf star Lydia Ko.

“I’ve played with Lydia a couple of times, and she was always extremely nice,” Hung said. “She would share with me everything she knows whenever I encountered any problem.”

“She became No.1 at such a young age, but is always so humble. She had gone through some rough patches, but then came back as strong as ever and retained the no.1 ranking again. I’ve been constantly dealing with consistency problems and I know how hard it is and how much self-discipline one needs to do what she has accomplished.”

Seven time TLPGA Tour winner Wu Chia-Yen (吳佳晏) is slowing transitioning to pursue her career in Japan. She’s spent about half the season away from Taiwan on JLPGA’s Step-Up Tour. The teenager is quickly adapting herself in the new environment, and is ready to get a driver’s license in Tokyo.

Wu’s mother is pleasantly surprised with how Wu seems to blend in the Japanese circle so effortlessly and pick up the Japanese language so easily. “I was pretty worried. But she learns really fast, about everything. She now speaks more fluent Japanese than I do, and I’ve been learning this language for more than ten years!”