The first tournament of 2015 on the TLPGA Tour, Hitachi Ladies Classic, ended last week but players would have plenty to look forward to in the new season, as they accumulated quite a few precious points into the newly released Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings (WWGR) on the LPGA website. The Hitachi Ladies Classic, with a purse worth NT$10 million, is the first tournament counting toward the World Rankings around the globe in 2015.

Fresh off a historic three-peat at the Orient Golf & Country Club, Thai sensation Pornanong Phatlum’s total points went from 157.15 to 162.33 as of 12th January, with her position remaining at number 27 in the world. Taiwan’s Teresa Lu (盧曉晴), who captured three victories on the JLPGA Tour last season, including one major and the year-end championship, rose two spots from number 33 to 31 with a T2 finish, besting her career high of number 32.

In a tie for second place with Lu was Chen Meng-Chu (陳孟竺), who leapfrogged 214 places to number 394 in the world. Finishing in a tie for fourth, CLPGA titlist Lin Tzu-Chi (林子麒) and 19-year-old amateur Peng Chieh (彭婕), both from Taiwan as well, jumped 54 and 378 places respectively to number 337 and 528 in the world.

Players in the top 20 and ties, which include a total of 24 international players, would all be receiving 1.6-0.5 points from the season-opening event.

“I’m very proud and thrilled to see players able to notch some important points on our Tour, especially for the local players,” said Liu Yi-Chen (劉依貞), TLPGA’s chairwoman. There were 17 Taiwanese players finishing in the top 20 and thus receiving the computer ranking points, and for some, those are the very first handfuls they had ever earned in their entire careers.

“The Taiwan LPGA Tour has been striving to develop itself into a top-notch women’s professional tour, and we were very delighted and honored to finally be recognized by the WWGR last July,” Liu added. “Our sponsors and partners deserve justifications by receiving official recognition and of course, our members are more than deserving of the official ranking points that will allow them to step onto the next level in the sport and prove to the world just how good they are.”

“However, this is still just the beginning of a long road as we continue to look for sponsors and partners sharing the same vision with us,” Liu said. “There are at least 19 events to go on the 2015 calendar and we are still in a hopeful search for new sponsorships that can help us along our journey and dream.”