Current LET Order of Merit No.1 Chiara Tamburlini shot a second-round 73 to retain her lead at the 2024 Wistron Ladies Open, a $1-million TLPGA Tour and Ladies European Tour (LET) co-sanctioned event. The Swiss is now on 5-under 139 and just one shot clear of TLPGA Tour member Chonlada Chayanun from Thailand.
Wistron Ladies Open is the first ever TLPGA Tour Tournament co-sanctioned by the LET. 45 LET members made their trip to Taiwan to compete with 45 TLPGA Tour pros and 18 local invites at the 72-hole event from Thursday to Sunday. The winner will receive $200,000.
Tamburlini, despite being only in her first full season on the LET, has shown incredible consistency to now lead on the LET’s official money leaderboard, and she posted a statement round yesterday with a 66 in her first visit to the TLPGA Tour.
However, the overnight leader felt she had a grind day today at the Sunrise Golf Club. “On my back nine, I struggled to hit the fairways and put the ball close enough to the pin. It was not my best round,” said Tamburlini. Fourtunately for her, she minimized the damage by rolling in two birdies on her last four holes and regained the leading position.
First-round co-leader Chayanun, on the other hand, finished the second round loosely with two bogeys and settled for just a 74. She carded two birdies and four bogeys throughout Friday.
“It was a little tough out there. The conditions were more brutal than yesterday,” said the TLPGA Tour titlist from Thailand. “A lot more had to be taken into account, the wind especially, and that made me hesitant in some of my decisions. I would hit too big sometimes trying to reduce the effect of the wind.”
“I’m not happy with my game today, but at the same time, I’m pretty happy with the result that came out today. It could’ve been better, but considering the conditions and all that, I think I did an okay job. I hope tomorrow will be better,” Chayanun said.
Local hopeful Hou Yu-Sang (侯羽桑) remained steady in the wind today. She carded an even-par 72 to sit in a tie for third at 3-under 141 with South Africa’s Casandra Alexander, Anne Van Dam of the Netherlands, and Thailand’s Kusuma Meechai and Supamas Sangchan.
“I hit a lot of the fairways and greens. The only problem was I could not get close enough. I had some long first putts. They were even more difficult to deal with when the wind was blowing like that,” Hou said. She wasted a couple of par-5s and instead dropped two shots there. “It definitely could have been better on those par-5 opportunities. That is what I’ll try to do in the final rounds.”
Taiwan’s Tsai Pei-Ying (蔡佩穎) fell from equal fourth on Day 1 to equal eighth after a second-round 74. “The wind was surely a factor today, for all of us. I did not think I played badly. I had my chances, but I only manage to make one birdie,” Tsai said. “The double-bogey on the 14th was a tough one to swallow. I can only continue to do the right thing, keep the ball low, cut down the mistakes, and hopefully have a better round tomorrow.”
62 players out of 108 get the ticket to the second half of the tournament after a cut today.
Wistron Ladies Open is the highest-paying tournament on the TLPGA Tour, title-sponsored by Wistron, a global ICT (Information and Communications Technology) solution provider and an important partner with the TLPGA since 2006. |