Malaysia’s Genevieve Ling jumped atop the leaderboard after carding a low-round 67 in the second round of the Friends of TLPGA Open today. She will now hold a two-shot cushion over Thai player Saraporn Chamchoi going into Thursday’s final-round.

Ling only missed the green once today, notched five birdies and made no bogeys. “It’s not as windy as yesterday, so I could concentrate on raising the green percentage. I think my putter was great, too, which helped me to convert a couple of longer birdie putts,” Ling said, who held three titles in her home tournaments and her best oversea appearance to date has been a T12 on the Thai LPGA Tour.

Saraporn Chamchoi’s second-round 71 was composed of four birdies and three bogeys, bringing her 36-hole total to even-par 144 as she stayed two shots off the lead. “My iron game was pretty good today. I made some quality chipping but my putter was not really up to the same level. I think I could’ve done better,” said the 31-year-old. Her compatriot and first-round co-leader Supamas Sangchan, however, dropped from 1-under to 1-over 145, sitting in a tie for third with Chen Ling-Jie (陳伶潔) and Shih Cheng-Hsuan (石澄璇).

Chen, who was also the clubhouse leader on Day 1, extended her stay at the top of the leaderboard through 16 holes, before painfully losing three shots on her last two holes. “It was my 8-iron. I took it out on 17 and 18, and on both attempts I flew to the right of my target,” Chen recalled, who watched her approach on the 18th disappear into a water-side palm tree and got a penalty. She left with a double-bogey in the end. “I couldn’t really read the grain well enough. I think I wasted many chances today on the greens. It was an okay round until that last two holes. Yeah, I’ll probably have to avoid using the 8-iron tomorrow!”

Shih was looking strong on the front nine, making three birdies along the way, but she could only make one bogey after the turn. Still, her 2-under 70 put her back in contention with just three strokes behind. “I wasn’t driving particularly well, so I felt like I was busy saving pars. Fortunately, the wind went down today, so I was able to defend better,” said Shih.

June Ting (丁子云), Ku Meng-Chen (古孟宸), Chou Yi-Tsen (周怡岑), Phannarai Meesom-us, and Samaporn Khangkhun sit in a five-way tie for sixth at 2-over 146. Wang Li-Ning (王莉甯) improved to T11 at 147 after a Wednesday 68.

54 players who were at 155 or better were through to the final round after today’s cut. The final-round action begins at 6:20. Ling, Chamchoi, and Shih will tee off last at 7:40.

The Friends of TLPGA Open starts on Tuesday this week at the Gold Coast Golf and Country Club in New Taipei, Taiwan. 84 pros and 7 local amateurs, gathering from Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, and all around Taiwan, battle it out for a NT$540,000 top prize in the NT$3 million TLPGA Tour event.

The “Friends of TLPGA” was founded two years ago by a group of golf-loving local entrepreneurs. They established a three-year based sponsorship program, giving 30 selected TLPGA players direct financial aid on a monthly basis, thanks to the donation of 70 “Friends of the TLPGA”. This week witnessed the very first Friends of TLPGA Open.

This also marks the first time since 2016 the TLPGA Tour travels back to the New Taipei’s Gold Coast Golf and Country Club. Two hole-in-one prizes will be up for grabs on Hole No.11 and No.15.