An Ho-Yu (安禾佑) shot a 4-under 68 in the third round of the 2024 WPG Ladies Open to put herself atop the leaderboard at 7-under 209.

Defending champion P. K. Kongkraphan posted a third-round 69 to move into the final day with just a one-shot deficit at 210. Chen Hsuan (陳萱) is tied for second after a Friday 67.

Shih Cheng-Hsuan (石澄璇) used a low-round 66 to rise into a tie for fourth with Lee Min (李旻) at 211.

At the sunny and breezy Sunrise Golf & Country Club today, An Ho-Yu got herself off to a flying start with a birdie on the first hole and closed the day with seven birdies and three bogeys. “The weather was great. Everybody was hitting well. So I knew I really had to step up my game,” said An, who made an impressive 17 greens and needed just 29 putts. “My woods and iron shots were pretty sharp, which set up well and gave me an easier time on the greens. I mean, the greens at Sunrise are always difficult. I’m glad I didn’t make it to complicated.”

Recent ICTSI Luisita Ladies International winner P. K. Kongkraphan overcame a topsy-turvy birdie-bogey-birdie-bogey-bogey start, and moved on to add four more birdies to the score card without any more blemishes. “I think I started strong, but somehow lost a little bit of concentration. I’m happy that I could quickly get it back and make some really nice shots,” the Thai player said, who saw her 15-foot eagle putt on the 13th drifted by but confidently sank the birdie attempt.

Consistency with the driver and control with the wedges from Chen Hsuan today helped her to card a 67 with six birdies and just one bogey, which boosted her from T6 to T2 on the leaderboard. “I felt really confident off the tees and I had good yardages coming in. I believed I really could’ve taken the lead with lots of opportunities at my hands, but yeah unfortunately, I missed a couple of them, especially two really makable ones on the 14th and 15th in a row. But still, I’m very proud with the way I played,” said Chen, who used only 28 putts.

Shih Cheng-Hsuan, who was the runner-up last year at the WPG Ladies Open, shot the low-round, bogey-free 66 to head into the final round with just two shots off the pace. “My driver was good the whole day, so I tried to be more aggressive on the second shots,” said Shih, who made 15 greens. “And my putter was working really well. Needed only 26 putts. I hope I can keep it up in the final round.” The two-time TLPGA Tour champion’s last victory goes back to 2021.

Lee Min, on the other hand, took a more conservative approach but still brought in a strong performance with a 68. “I’m not feeling at my best, so I didn’t really want to take too much risks. But I guess this kind of helped me to be more focused and relaxed and finally I think I did play a pretty solid round of golf,” said Lee.

Wang Li-Ning (王莉甯) ascended to the top spot at 5-under at the turn after picking up three birdies on her front nine, but then she was thrown to a tricky situation on the par-3 10th hole where her ball was up against the left edge of the greenside bunker. “I was thinking if I should try to hit it out of the sand but then, it was really a super tough shot to hit and the ball could easily get even more stuck,” said Wang, who decided to speak to the referee and it was agreed Wang could get a new lie inside the bunker at the cost of a one-shot penalty. She ended up making a double-bogey on the hol, which derailed the momentum and not until the final hole did she make another birdie to return into a tie for sixth, with Lin Tzu-Chi (林子麒).

Lin turned in a 4-under 68 for the third round having bogeys on the 1st and 17th hole but scoring an impressive six birdies in between. “No.17 has been a tough one for me this week. I needed three putts here again, which kind of took away the joy of a good round. But yeah, I think my tee shots and irons were pretty solid throughout the day. It was pretty straightforward. Things didn’t go like that very often for me this year, to be honest, so I’ll take what I got,” said Lin.

36-hole leader Hou Yu-Chiang (侯羽薔) carded a 1-over 73 to drop into a tie for eighth.

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.