Overnight leader Hsu Wei-Ling (徐薇淩) will hold a three-stroke edge heading into Sunday’s final-round of the 2023 Wistron Ladies Open.

The $800,000 Wistron Ladies Open is the highest-paying tournament in the 2023 TLPGA Tour season. Wistron, a Fortune’s top-500 company and one of the global leaders in the ICT (Information and Communications Technology) field, has been an important partner with the TLPGA since 2006 and sponsoring the Wistron Ladies Open since 2020. This year, Wistron announced yet another prize money increase with a total prize pool of $800,000 (about 300% gain from 2020 and 60% gain from 2022).

Only nine players broke par today at the rainy and windy Sunrise Golf Club, with the play suspended for 43 minutes in the early morning due to sudden downpours and wet greens.

Hsu Wei-Ling continued her hot streak and fired a low-round 69, being just one of the two cards in the 60s along with Wang Li-Ning’s (王莉甯).

Starting with a one-shot lead, Hsu made a couple of bogeys on the first two holes, before she quickly regained focus to birdie No.4 and No.8, arriving at the turn on even-par for the day and keeping the lead on 5-under.

A beautiful pitching wedge shot from 105 yards delivered another great birdie opportunity as Hsu began an impressive back-nine. She picked up five birdies on her way back to the clubhouse, which included a chip-in on the 12th hole and a 10-footer on the 18th to compensate for the loss on the 17th. She totaled seven birdies and four bogeys in the third round to set up a three-shot lead on 8-under par. She will be eyeing a record-high winner’s cash prize of $320,000 (doubled from the listed $160,000 as a bonus from the Taiwan-based Wistron).

“I know I can make birdies. So, that would still be my top game plan in the final round, to play aggressive,” said Hsu. “This course will punish you, especially with bad second shots. And that’s what I’ll need to be careful with.”

Former world amateur no.1 Hou Yu-Chiang (侯羽薔) used a 71, composed of four birdies and three bogeys, to be in solo second on 5-under par. Still, she was not really happy with her putter. “Yeah, it was again a three-putt on the 3rd hole,” Hou said, who needed 30 putts. “But to be fair, I did save many pars on the back nine. And those two late birdies on the 16th and 18th were both from challenging position. It could be better, but could be worse as well. I’m just happy to still be in contention. Anything is possible with just a three-shot margin.”

Thailand’s Wichanee Meechai and Philippines’ Bianca Pagdanganan, both LPGA Tour campaigners, sit in equal fourth on 4-under par.

Pagdanganan picked out her 56-degree wedge and holed it out from 97 yards on the par-4 12th to earn a precious eagle. “The green was a little lifted, so I couldn’t really see where it landed. But I was sure it was going to be a great shot,” said Pagdanganan, who registered one eagle, one birdie and two bogeys in her round of a 71.

“I played some patient golf considering how bad the wind was, especially on the front nine. I’ll keep doing that, but hopefully I would get the ball closer and score more.” The big-hitting Filipino is ranked as high as no.3 in driving distance on the LPGA Tour.

Struggling on the greens with 33 attempts, Meechai found a way to stay in the front pack thanks to a string of three consecutive birdies from 15th to 17th. “I would rate a 7 out of 10 for my performance. Putting’s got a lot of works to do,” said Meechai. “I felt like I missed so many birdies out there. But I’ll have to stay very positive and not let the disappointment affect my game. Patience is key on these unpredictable greens at the Sunrise.”

Wang Li-Ning made five birdies and just two bogeys to jump into a tie for sixth with Cheng Ssu-Chia (程思嘉) (70) and Phoebe Yao (姚宣榆) (74) on 2-under. “A lot of my second shots flew short, on the past two days. So today, I thought I would just try to hit harder and play more risky, and the result was pretty good,” said Wang, who picked up four birdies in a row around the turn and returned with a low-round 69.

Set at 6,413 yards long for the week, the Sunrise layout has tested some of the best players in the world. It became the venue of many high-profile international events such as the LPGA Taiwan Championship and the 2017 Taipei Summer Universiade.

Final-round action is set to begin at 7 a.m. Sunday morning from first and tenth tees, with the leading trio Hsu, Hou and Pagdanganan teeing off at 8:30.