Five of the top 15 players in the current LPGA of Taiwan ranking are vying in first The Country Club Ladies Invitational, boosting the elite international cast chasing for the crown in the biggest, richest event on the six-year Ladies Philippine Golf Tour.
No. 4 Babe Liu headlines the 29-player strong crew from Chinese Taipei, including three amateurs in Yu Chiang Hou, Tzu Yi Chang and Yi Ting Chou. Liu placed second to amateur Chia Yen Yu in the Party Golfer Ladies Open but pocketed the top purse in the first LPGT co-sanctioned event in Taiwan last October.
Also looming large in the 54-hole championship, featuring world No. 2 Sung Hyun Park of South Korea and the country’s top guns, are No. 8 Hsin Lee, ninth ranked Tzu Chi Lin, No. 12 Chia Pei Lee and No. 15 Yu Ning Huang.
Ching Huang, who bested the fancied Thai troika of Renuka Suksukont, Pannapa Polnamin and Supamas Sangchan in last year’s LGPT-TLPGA Champion Tour at Tagaytay Midlands, is also in the fold, looking for another shot at a local crown in the $100,000 event also serving as the third leg of TLPGA.
So do the likes of Yu Chiang Hou, Meng Chu Chen, Jessica Peng, Yu Ling Hsieh, Yi Ching Wu, Hanna Chen, Hsin En Tsai, Ching Ling Chang, Pen Wen Huang, Chia Wen Tai and Yi Ting Chou.
This marks the fifth year that the TLPGA is co-sanctioning an LPGT event with the local circuit serving as another platform for the Taiwanese to hone their talent and skills for its level of play and prize money.
“The LPGA of Taiwan is constantly working on to provide more opportunities for everyone and let our players train and challenge themselves to raise their respective games to a new level. At the same time, we always see to it to enhance Taiwan’s visibility in the international community, to reach out into the world and put Taiwan golf on the world stage,” said TLPGA chairlady Mei-Chi Cheng.