Wang Li-Ning (王莉甯) extended her great putting feel from yesterday, beating a two-shot deficit to clinch the 2023 SAMPO Ladies Open victory. She needed a par in the sudden-death play-off to defeat Chen Yu-Ju (陳宇茹), who also completed the regular rounds on 1-under 215. This is Wang’s first TLPGA Tour title.

First-round leader Chen Ling-Jie (陳伶潔) registered a 216 to finish in third place. Wu Chun-Wei (吳純葳) completed the week as the low amateur. The teenager finished in a tie for fourth on 2-over 218 with Thai players Pakin Kawinpakorn and Ornicha Konsunthea.

“Honestly, I was struggling quite a bit with the wind,” said Wang under Friday’s gusty conditions at the Nan Yi Golf & Country Club. “There was just a streak of mistakes. It was so frustrating—it hit a tree on the second hole, almost fell into the water on the third, and the tee shot ended up deep in the woods on the fourth. It was probably the worst start I could’ve had.”

Meanwhile, overnight leader Chen Yu-Ju did not fare any better. After a bogey-birdie opening to remain at 2-under par, Chen suddenly found herself stumbled to 1-over par after a seven-shot triple bogey on the fifth hole.

It took some time for Wang and Chen to settle into the intense final round atmosphere as they both made birdies on the par-5 9th hole, leaving Chen with still a one-shot lead at the turn.

A mental tug of war on the back nine saw Wang used a pair of birdies on no.11 and 12 to steal the lead, before Chen summoned up her own magic to take the lead back after birdies on no.16 and 17, which said Wang would need a final-hole birdie to extend the match, and it was exactly what she did. Wang used this birdie to become one of the only two players to finish the round in red figure today, and brought Chen back to the 18th tee again for the play-off.

Going into the play-off “feeling pumped up”, as she said, Wang carried the ball to a decent position on the par-4 18th green and made two putts for an important par. Chen, on the other hand, needed to recover from a loose tee shot in the roughs before she found the green in three shots already. “It was not a bad recovery. I hit a good wedge from a very difficult spot from 120 yards to make it as close as I could go on the green, but unfortunately, the par putt did not sink,” said Chen, who ended up with a bogey and a runner-up finish.

2021 Champion Juliana Hung (洪玉霖) and former world no.1 Yani Tseng (曾雅妮) both capped off the final-round with a birdie on the 18th to squeeze into a top-10 and a top-30 finish respectively.

“Yeah, it was incredible,” said Tseng about the chip-in birdie, which was her only birdie in the final-round as well. “I was barely standing on both legs on the edge of the bunker. I got the ball up high and saw it jump right into the hole after a bounce. It felt great.”

On the same course today, Lu Ya-Huei (呂雅惠) shot an impressive 1-over 73 to lift the Senior’s trophy at the 18-hole “Xiu Ju Cup” Senior Ladies Professional Tournament. Huang Yueh-Chyn (黃玥珡), a former Japan LPGA Tour champion, snatched the Legend’s victory with the score of 11-over 83.