Wu Chia-Yen (吳佳晏), first-round co-leader with Tseng Tsai-Ching (曾彩晴) and Mio Kotaki at the 2023 CTBC Ladies Open, emerged as the solo leader on Friday. She fired seven birdies, made only one bogey to bring her score to 9-under, and would be heading into Saturday’s final round with a two-shot advantage over Kotaki.

The JPY30,000,000 event is a co-sanctioned tournament by the TLPGA Tour and Japan LPGA’s Step-Up Tour (JSU Tour).

Thailand’s Supamas Sangchan stole the show in the early wave. She eagled the first hole with a 15-foot chip-in, and jumped atop the leaderboard after another pair of birdies through just four holes. However, her level dropped a little after the turn.  She committed a few more mistakes on the green and ended up in a tie for sixth with Juliana Hung (洪玉霖) and Risa Murata.

Kotaki, who opened the round with a birdie, wrapped it up with another four birdies to settle for a Friday 68. “It’s great. I’m feeling more and more comfortable with the Orient course. There was only one bogey on the eighth hole. Yesterday I made four bogeys,” Kotaki said. “This is the first time I play with Chia-Yen. She is not a big girl, but she is playing very big golf for her size. She has the touch as well, giving herself a lot of birdie chances. I was trying my best to match her pace.” The backdrop this week is the Orient Golf & Country Club.

Wu made her first birdie of the day on the 5th, and followed it up with a 30-foot birdie on the 6th. Another back-to-back birdies on the 8th and 9th saw Wu build a three-shot lead already. “Yeah, I had a lot of confidence in my irons today. The seven birdies were pretty much all in easy range. And I believed I still left a few birdies out there,” said Wu, who carded a low-round 66. Kotaki did try hard to turn up a gear before it was too late, birdying no.15 and no.16 consecutively to finish the day “only” with a two-stroke gap to Wu.

Jessica Peng (彭婕), who has been focusing on the LPGA’s Epson Tour in the U.S., came back home to support her sponsor’s event. She improved from a first-round 71 to a 4-under 68 today, moving into a tie for third with Yuna Arakawa at 139.

Chen Yu-Ju (陳宇茹) posted a 5-under 67 to surge from T19 to solo fifth at 140. Chang Ya-Chun (張雅淳), Chonlada Chayanun, Anna Koko, Mamiko Higa, Ayako Uehara, and Mana Shinozaki squeezed into the top-10 at T9 and seven shots off the lead.

Overnight co-leader Tseng Tsai-Ching fell into T20 carding a disappointing second-round 76.

56 players at 5-over 149 or better advanced to the final-round after today’s cut. The final-round begins at 8:00 on Saturday morning. The best player standing tomorrow will take away JPY5,400,000.

The 2023 CTBC Ladies Open is now presented in collaboration with the Japan LPGA, making it a Step-Up Tour oversea leg—a historic first for the JLPGA’s secondary tour to travel outside of Japan.