Overnight leader Chang Ya-Chun (張雅淳), despite her not making any progress on 7-under on Day 2, still held the lead by one shot over Thailand’s P.K. Kongkraphan after the second round at the WPG Ladies Open.

The Sunrise Golf and Country Club was played under heavy wind conditions on Thursday. Kongkraphan was one of the only three players to break par. She carded a 71 to replace Shih Cheng-Hsuan (石澄璇) in solo second at 138.

Shih fell to the third with a 1-over 73 at 5-under 139. Japanese Yuna Arakawa scored the lone eagle in the entire day, finishing the round with a 71 to move into solo fourth.

A cut was made today sending 55 players at 154 or better into the final two rounds. One unfortunate withdrawal saw 2020 champion Wu Chia-Yen (吳佳晏) exit due to illness.

First-round leader Chang Ya-Chun had a rough start on the front nine today, making just one birdie on the 5th and dropping shots on no.2, 3, 7 and 8. “I actually thought I didn’t play too badly considering the windy conditions, but a lot of the putts were so close. I should’ve made a few more,” said Chang, who regrouped timely after another bogey on the 10th, closing the round in style with four birdies in seven holes to get back to even-par for Day 2. “I tried to keep it more simple, just hit toward the flag, not giving myself too much pressure. And fortunately, things started to get better.”

“P.K. was a great playing partner today. She kept the intensity very high. Amazing touch on the greens. That kind of put extra pressure on me but at the same time, it pushed me to play better,” Chang said, complimenting Kongkraphan’s achievements on the LPGA Tour.

Chang was last year’s TLPGA Tour year-end Money Winner, and she currently sits in the 7th place on the 2023 Leaderboard.

Kongkraphan made 30 attempts on the greens today, which was 7 more than yesterday’s impressive 23. She earned shots on the first hole of the day and on the 8th hole as well thanks to a beautiful chip-in, arriving the turn at 6-under (with one bogey setback).

With two more birdies and an 11th-hole double-bogey on the inward nine, she wrapped up the day still at 6-under. Kongkraphan has one victory under her belt on the LPGA’s Symetra Tour in 2013, and now she holds memberships on the TLPGA Tour as well as circuits in China and the Philippines.

Shih Cheng-Hsuan also needed 7 more putts than yesterday. “I made 13 greens, which was okay, but the problem is they were just not good enough. I felt l had so much hard time on the greens in some very difficult positions,” said Shih, who made 33 putts. “I didn’t really have many opportunities to score, so it felt like an accomplishment already that I walked away with a 73.” Shih made all 14 fairways, which was one remarkable stat under the wind.

The low-round of the day was a 70 by Babe Liu (劉嬿), who implied 2023 would be the last season for her. “I met Chan Shih-Chang (Taiwanese male pro golfer) a couple of weeks ago. He has been an important mentor of mine. We had a very long talk, and he encouraged me to keep on playing, or more precisely, he challenged me on why not keep going. And funny enough, I found it hard to argue with his points. They just suddenly shed some new light and I am slowing changing my mind,” said Liu, who made three birdies, offset by just one bogey in today’s round.

“I think the decision I made (to retire) helped me in a way to let go of a lot of things I’ve been holding on to for a long time, which can be overwhelming sometimes and strip the joy from golf,” Liu added. “Now that I take it more lightly, somehow things start to flow on their own. I’m really happy with the way I’ve been playing this week.”

Liu jumped from T17 into solo fifth at 2-under 142. Liao Hsin-Chun (廖信淳) kept her place as the highest standing amateur player at 3-over 147 and T11 on the leaderboard. Sophia Chen (陳俋儒) loomed just one shot behind her.

This week on the TLPGA Tour is the fourth annual WPG Ladies Open, featuring a new 72-hole format and a lucrative NT$10 million grand total purse.

WPG Holdings, title-sponsor of the event, offered an increased purse from NT$6 million in 2021 to $10 million in 2022 and 2023, more than doubled when it was first held in 2020 (NT$4.5 million), making it one of the highest-paying TLPGA Tour events.

The Sunrise Golf & Country Club, for the fourth year in a row, plays host to 100 pros and 8 amateur players from Wednesday to Saturday. The layout is set at 6,383 yards.

WPG, an ESG-friendly, global-leading distributor of semiconductor components, is hoping the raise in prize money and the extended four-round schedule will help local players to get a feel of taking part in a global event of the highest prestige, and better prepare themselves for their future pursuit into higher calibre.