Hou Yu-Chiang (侯羽薔) jumped from equal 17th to the top on the leaderboard after carding a second-round 3-under 69 at the WPG Ladies Open. Chou Yi-Tsen (周怡岑) also improved from solo second into equal lead at 4-under par.

The wind picked up today at the Sunrise Golf & Country Club as the leaderboard saw some big changes. Overnight leader P. K. Kongkraphan made some poor judgements on the greens and dropped into a tie for third with An Ho-Yu (安禾佑) (71) after her 2-over 74.

“It’s always challenging to play at the Sunrise with the gusty conditions. I’ve been working on hitting the lower shots to fight the wind, which helped me to be more in control today,” said Hou, who had a slow start with bogeys on the 2nd and 4th, but settled down from the 6th hole where she began a harvest for five birdies without any more bogeys.

“At Sunrise, you’ll always have to be patient. I think it is important to observe the wind and always take the safer options, which is what I’m going to keep doing tomorrow,” said Hou, who needed just 28 putts in the second round.

Chou Yi-Chen made three birdies, one bogey, and one double-bogey to turn in an even-par 72. “I tried to cut a little bit of the back spin on my wood shots, to keep the direction more stable and let the ball roll more, so I think I played a decent round of golf except for that one on the 16th,” Chou said, referring to the miscued tee shot that ended up in the water near the par-3 16th green, where she left with a double-bogey.

An Ho-Yu said that the unpredictability of the wind potentially did her a favor and let her “slow down the tempo and be more careful”. She made four birdies and three bogeys to register a 1-under 71 to move to 3-under in total. “I think my putter was better than yesterday. It’s just that the conditions were a bit more difficult. You make a small mistake and you can well put yourself in bogey trouble.”

Defending champion P. K. Kongkraphan struggled with her judgements on the greens. “I was a bit too confident, should have trusted the course caddie a little more. My wood and iron shots were in a pretty good form, but I did not manage it well with the putter,” she said. “I hope the wind will calm down tomorrow so I could play more freely and be more aggressive, which is my forte.”

60 players at 7-over or better advanced to the third round of the WPG Ladies Open after the half-way cut. 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 is an ESG-friendly, global-leading distributor of semiconductor components. A new “Birdies for Trees” project is running this week---for every birdie/eagle/albatross scored during the four rounds, 1/10/100 new trees will be planted by WPG to preserve the local environments.