Birdies and eagles were falling on a windless Saturday, ideal for scoring, on the Mannou Hills. Minori Hashizoe used an 8-under 64 to steal the lead from Seira Oki, as she will be heading into the final-round with a one-shot advantage on 9-under at the 2023 Japan Taiwan Friendship Udon-Ken Ladies Golf Tournament, a co-sanctioned event by the Japan LPGA’s Step-Up Tour and the TLPGA Tour.

First-round leader Oki shot a 3-under 69 and is now tied with Hiroko Azuma (67) on 8-under 136.

Kano Nakamura, who started the day on 3-over par, surged into equal fourth after breaking the tournament’s low-round record with a 62.

Taiwan’s Babe Liu (劉嬿) (70) and Wang Li-Ning (王莉甯) (69) loomed in a tie for twelfth with a five-shot deficit.

Step-Up Tour 2023 Money Leader, Taiwanese Wu Chia-Yen (吳佳晏) (72) and Chen Ling-Jie (陳伶潔) (68) stood in a tie for 27th on 1-under 143. TLPGA Tour members Chang Hsuan-Ping (張瑄屏) Chen I-Wen (陳依妏), and Liu Peng-Shan (劉芃姍) also made it through the 36-hole cut at 1-over par 145.

The JPY20,000,000 tournament features 106 players from the “JSU” Tour and the TLPGA Tour, who play through three days and 54 holes for a JPY3,600,000 top prize. OHK Okayama Broadcasting is the co-organizer.

“Some of the pin positions on the slope were really challenging, but the wind was less of a factor today, so I believed many of the girls were having a great time scoring,” said Wang. “I did okay. My irons were good, putter not bad, which got me four birdies and I made just one bogey. I need to step up my game tomorrow, though. And after seeing the scores today, I hope I can make a 65 or better on Sunday. That would be the goal.”

Babe Liu’s second-round 70 consists of five birdies and three bogeys. “I didn’t feel at my best today, was struggling a bit with my irons, around the 100-yard range especially,” said Liu, who hopes to finish with a 66 or better on Sunday.

Wu Chia-Yen picked up four birdies, offset by just one bogey, through seventeen holes, but a series of misjudgments led to a triple-bogey on the last hole, which knocked her fifteen places down into equal 27th. The 19-year-old is playing her first full season on the JSU Tour and she has earned already three tour titles, between June and August. The amazing string of performances puts her currently atop the official Step-Up Tour money leaderboard.

There were two hole-in-ones recorded on Saturday at the Mannou Hills Country Club, as Aoi Matsuura aced No.3 and Thai player O. Sattaya aced the 12th hole.

The co-sanctioned event by the Japan LPGA’s Step-Up Tour and the TLPGA Tour was staged for the first time in 2017, and went through a two-year hiatus in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. It was resumed on the 2022 schedule where Kokona Sakurai gained her fifth victory in the season by an impressive seven shots, on a 54-hole total of 17-under 199.

Tee times for the final round of the 2023 Japan Taiwan Friendship Udon-Ken Ladies Golf Tournament begin tomorrow at 8:00, from the first and tenth tees.