The NT$5-million Taiwan Mobile Ladies Open gets underway this Wednesday. The 102-player field sees all five former champions return, including defending champion Hsu Wei-Ling (徐薇凌), as well as Lee Min (李旻), Lin Shan-Wei (林善葳), Chien Pei-Yun (錢珮芸), and 2017 winner, Thailand’s Ploychompoo Wilairungrueng.

10 sponsor exempts and special invites from Golf Association of R.O.C (GAROC) also gather this week at the Tong Hwa Golf & Country Club. One of them is 17-year-old Huang Ting-Hsuan (黃亭瑄), who will hope to retain the low-amateur honor from last year. The recent APGC (Asia-Pacific Golf Championship) champion, the first Taiwanese to ever take the title by a winning score of 277, will debut at two world majors in 2023 at the Evian Championship and The Women’s Open.

In fact, the field is as strong as ever with all but just a few missing from the top-20 on the TLPGA Tour 2022 official money list. Hsu, who is playing in her eighth calendar year on the LPGA Tour, has entered 23 LPGA Tour events this year but her best showing only came as a T9 at the Meijer LPGA Classic this June.

“It’s not the best season on paper for me, to be honest, but I can feel a lot of improvement on the mental side. I coped with the ups and downs with a healthier mindset, which had not been quite there because I feel I almost had to gone through the times in every season when I feel I’m hopeless or overwhelmed by something unexpected. But here in 2022, I see a more mature ‘me’, and can take a lot of positivity from what I used to see as failure,” Hsu reflected on the calm 2022 after lifting her first LPGA Tour victory last year.

2020 champion Chien Pei-Yun proved her pulling out from title defense at last year’s Taiwan Mobile Ladies Open for the 2022 LPGA Tour test a worthy trip, as she secured an LPGA Tour card at last, and found her way out of her early-season slump to record a T4 finish in August’s ISPS Handa World Invitational.

Fellow LPGA Tour campaigner Lee Min, who had a disappointing season, moving into the weekends in only 11 of 20 outings with T24 her best finish at the Portland Classic three month ago, had no choice but to jostle through the recent eight-round LPGA Tour Q-Series in order to qualify for the 2023 season. Lee could happily offer a big smile of relief seeing her effort pay off in the end.

Before her next LPGA Tour season comes, Lee booked her flight back to home city for the Taiwan Mobile event which carries rich memories for her, including a victory in 2018. “Girls better watch out, I am going to ‘copy and paste’ my winning performance from 2018,” Lee joked, during today’s pre-tournament press time.

Lin Shan-Wei responded with her own humor, saying “her 2019 trophy seems lonely and to add a companion looks very likely this year”. Meanwhile, being the only player from overseas to ever etched her name on the tournament records, Thai elite Wilairungrueng said she will be doing her “very best” to repeat the victory.

No player has won the Taiwan Mobile Ladies Open more than once in the previous five editions, which combined offering more than NT$20 million purse.

Other than five former champs, last week’s Wistron Ladies Open winner and current TLPGA Tour money leader Chang Ya-Chun (張雅淳) will look to carry her form into this week at the Tong Hwa Course. With six runner-up finishes, Yilan native Shih Cheng-Hsuan (石澄璇) hopes to push through that last mile to cap off the season on a high.

Under the beautiful, clear sky today, Taiwan’s 2020 Olympic representative and eventually the bronze medalist in the men’s game, PGA Tour titlist C.T. Pan (潘政琮) made his presence to congratulate and celebrate the event together as a special guest during the “tee-off ceremony”.

“Fortunately, we have waved goodbye to the bad weather from last week and the forecast looks fantastic for the upcoming days. Again, I wish all the ladies the best week,” said Chairman at Taiwan Mobile, Daniel Tsai. “In another Olympic cycle as we stand, we hope all of you can and will ‘Open Possible’, as our Taiwan Mobile brand tagline suggests, to break new grounds and set new records for yourselves.”

A cut will be made after Thursday’s second round, sending only the top-50 and ties into the final day. For more information on the 2022 Taiwan Mobile Ladies Open, please explore https://www.taiwanmobile.com/twmTLPGA2022/