The TLPGA Tour will be traveling to the Sunrise Golf & Country Club this week for the 2024 WPG Ladies Open. The event features a 72-hole format with a NT$12 million total prize which sees a 20% increase from the 2023 edition. Winner on Saturday will pocket NT$2,400,000 and will have her name etched alongside the other four previous champions onto the iconic 3D-printed trophy.

WPG Holdings, title-sponsor of the event, offered an increased purse from NT$4.5 million to NT$6 million in 2021, $10 million in 2022 and 2023, and now the stakes have increased yet again, making it one of the richest TLPGA Tour events on the calendar

WPG, an ESG-friendly, global-leading distributor of semiconductor components, is hoping the raise in prize money and the extended four-round schedule will help local players to get a feel of taking part in a global event of the highest prestige, and better prepare themselves for their future pursuit into higher calibre.

104 professionals and 4 amateurs will be in action tomorrow on Wednesday. The Sunrise Golf & Country Club will be the backdrop for the fifth year in a row.

Recent ICTSI Luisita Ladies International winner, P. K. Kongkraphan of Thailand will return to defend her crown. Lee Hsin (李欣) is also hoping to duplicate her winning performance in 2022.

Last week’s CTBC Ladies Open winner Chen Hsuan (陳萱), YI-CHEN Heritage Tour winner Chen Ling-Jie (陳伶潔), 2023 TLPGA Tour Money Winner Chang Ya-Chun (張雅淳), and last year’s runner-up Shih Cheng-Hsuan (石澄璇) are all in the field this week, making it one of the most competitive campaigns in this TLPGA Tour season.

“The WPG Ladies Open was brought to the tour in 2020, when the pandemic was in full swing and everything was extremely difficult,” said Event Manager Mr. Chen K-Y. “But we knew we just had to kind of bite our teeth and grind through it for the better for the community, especially in the most challenging times. And now we can proudly say the WPG event is here to stay as one of the most anticipated tournaments on the TLPGA Tour.”

“This is the second year the format is elevated into a 4-day event, with again a record-breaking prize purse. We hope this is going to encourage the ladies to bring out their best game,” said Chen, who revealed a new “Birdies for Trees” project---for every birdie/eagle/albatross scored, 1/10/100 new trees will be planted to preserve the local environments.

“On behalf of the TLPGA Tour and the members, I would like to express thanks once again to the WPG Holdings, who reached out their helping hands when the sport was in the most difficult times in 2020, and has now been one of our biggest title-sponsors for the fifth consecutive year. I hope this partnership will continue to grow in the long term and help carry the TLPGA Tour the next level in the future,” TLPGA Tour Chairwoman Liu Yi-Chen said. “I’m excited to announce, after our latest TLPGA Q-test, our member count has reached 177. At this rate, we’re going to cross the 200 mark in three years, which is a remarkable achievement considering we only had 77 members in the first year when we filed our proposal to be included into the WWGR (World Women’s Golf Rankings) system back in 2012!”

The players tested the Sunrise layout, set at 6,363 yards, one last time today in the Pro-Am event. Hole-in-one prize of NT$100,000 cash will be on offer on Hole 2, 4, 11, and 16 for the next four days.

First-round paly will tee off tomorrow at 6:30. A cut is scheduled after the second-round, sending only the top-50 and ties into the second half of competition.

Other main sponsors for the 2024 event include: STMicroelectronics, AOS, Micron, MPS, Nexperia, AMD, Asmedia, Chunghwa Telecom, Diodes, Inergy, Infineon, KIOXIA, Kingston Technology, Microsoft, Molex, Macronix, Nuvoton, PwC, TOSHIBA, uPI SEMI, Winbond and ZILLTEK.