Chen Ling-Jie (陳伶潔) and An Ho-Yu (安禾佑) earned the half-way lead at the NT$600,000 YICHEN Heritage Tour today at the Lily Golf and Country Club. They put up bogey-free 67s in humid heat to lead by two shots.

The 36-hole “Heritage Tour” event features a special format in which the pros and amateur players are paired in the same group so the young ones can closely interact with the elites and pick up valuable learning experience.

In fact, on this venue last Fall, Chen Ling-Jie just bagged her first TLPGA Tour victory at the Party Golfers TLPGA Open. Laid out in a forest, the Lily course provides plenty of challenge with its undulating setting.

“The layout was pretty challenging, but my short game was really solid, building up lots of chances for me on the greens,” said Chen, who started on the 10th hole. “The grain of the grass has been tough to handle on this course. But I did well to get myself many short putts, not to overcomplicate things on the greens, which was key to my performance today.” Chen hit sixteen greens, converting five birdie putts.

Tied in the lead with Chen, An pulled an even better green success with seventeen greens hit. “I always went too short on the greens on the first few holes, but I think I adjusted quickly enough and settled into a pretty good rhythm for the rest of the day,” said An.

Huang Ching (黃靖) also boasts a good history playing at the Lily Golf Club. She shot a 3-under 69 to sit in a tie for third.

“I felt like I had quite a few difficult putts to make, but I played them pretty well,” Huang said, who avoided bogey throughout and picked up three birdies in the first round. A lucky escape on the fifth hole that saw her wild tee shot hit the cart path and bounced back onto the fairway, before she left with a hard-earned par. She also got away with a number of tricky 5-footers on the greens.

“I felt I could have scored more birdies. I missed a 7-foot uphill birdie on the first hole, which was close, and so as the one on the 7th hole, which touched the lip and somehow stayed out of the cup,” Huang added.

Chang Yi-Han (張怡涵) was shortly on the top of the leaderboard today around the turn with four birdies in the bag, but consecutive letdowns on the 16th and 18th had her settle for just a 3-under 69. “I took out my 58-degree wedge and aimed at the flag on my third shot on the par-5 16th, but it was completely off. I needed another shot to reach the green,” Chang recalled. “Then on the 18th, I left a super long putt on the green, which didn’t look good and finally took me three tries to make it. It would’ve made a great difference for me today if I could clear just one or two more of those crucial putts. Hopefully I’ll do better in the final round.” Chang needed 31 putts.

A 54-hole TLPGA Qualification Test was held concurrently at the Lily Golf & Country Club as it moved into the second round today. Lin Tzu-Han (林子涵) shot an impressive 66 to lead the six-player field by two shots at 4-under 140.

This week, the fifth YICHEN Heritage Tour returns in action this week at the Lily Golf and Country Club, which played host to 58 pro elites, 30 top junior and amateur players, as well as 6 TLPGA Member Qualification Test participants, as the TLPGA Tour professionals vie for a NT$71,000 top prize through a 2-day competition.