Taiwan’s Juliana Hung (洪玉霖) and Liang Yi-Ling (梁宜羚) set the early pace on Tuesday at the NT$3 million Jing-Mao Ladies Open, title sponsored by Jing-Mao Construction. The duo shot impressive 7-under 65s to lead by two after Day 1.

Japan’s Yuna Arakawa is now solo third with a 5-under 67. Babe Liu (劉嬿) and Thailand’s Green Poruangrong are on 4-under 68. A crowded nine-way tie for sixth includes Thai star P.K. Kongkraphan, who recently captured consecutive victories at the WPG Ladies Open and the Friends of TLPGA Open.

The second annual Jing-Mao Ladies Open is the ninth leg of the 2023 TLPGA Tour. Set at 6,203 yards long, the Royal Kuan-Hsi course will be testing players’ putting skills with its challenging, undulous greens. The winner emerging from the international 100-player field on Thursday takes away a NT$540,000 cash prize.

Liang Yi-Ling rewrote her personal nine-hole record of a 6-under 30 after snatching six birdies, albeit under the preferred lies regulations. “I was in a tournament in Singapore a couple of months ago, where the players were accompanied by course volunteers rather than actual caddies. I had to really make my own observations and judgements, which I think, in a way, helped build a lot of confidence in myself, that I can really trust my instinct, even though I did not finish that well in the end,” said Liang. “But I definitely took a lot of positives during the stay in Singapore. I’m feeling like a new player today.”

Liang made two more birdies on the back nine to get her birdie count to eight, committing just one bogey along the way.

Juliana Hung started off very strongly in the first round as well, making the turn just one shot behind Liang, before she closed the gap on the back nine. Hung needed just 27 putts, one less than Liang did.

“The course actually doesn’t play very long, so I tried to be more aggressive and targeted the pin,” said Hung. “It presented many birdie opportunities for me. But I felt like I could have putted a bit better. The ball rolled quite fast out there on the greens.”

Yuna Arakawa earned her TLPGA Tour card last November and she has made the most of it by achieving three top-10s in just four outings this season. In the only time she was not in top-10, she actually finished in T11, which is highly impressive for a non-native player. The Japanese picked up five birdies today to shoot a bogey-free 67, thanks to her consistency with 15 greens hit and only 28 attempts needed on the greens.

P.K. Kongkraphan, who is the only TLPGA Tour player with two victories in her hands in 2023, needed 32 putts and registered a first-round 3-under 69, which put her in equal sixth. She had one eagle, three birdies and two bogeys on the score card.

Tseng Tsai-Ching (曾彩晴) recently claimed her second TLPGA Tour title at the Island Resort Championship last month (which is co-sanctioned by the EPSON Tour). She used just 24 putts today and sit currently also in a tie for sixth with a 69 composed of five birdies and two bogeys.

The Royal Kuan-Hsi Golf Club is the backdrop for this week’s event.

Second-round action begins at 6:30 tomorrow morning from the first and tenth tees. A cut will be made to send only the top-50 and ties into Thursday’s final round. Hole-in-one prizes from Departure, SAMPO, EAGLE Golf, and BESV E-Bike are still up for grabs on Hole 3, 7, 12, 17 for the first ace on each hole.