Players fought through strong, cold winds blowing in the Sunrise Golf Club on Wednesday, during the first-round of the $500,000 Wistron Ladies Open. A group of six, including 2020 winner Shih Cheng-Hsuan (石澄璇), An Ho-Yu (安禾佑), Babe Liu (劉嬿), Phoebe Yao (姚宣榆), Chang Ching-Ling (張靖翎), and Chang Ya-Chun (張雅淳), emerged as co-leaders back in the clubhouse at 2-over 74.

Wu Hsiao-Ling (吳曉玲) and Chang Hsuan-Ping (張瑄屏) sit another three shots away at 77, while LPGA Tour no.78 Hsu Wei-Ling (徐薇淩) and Thai elite Chonlada Chayanun both carded a 78 to be in a tie for ninth.

Shih Cheng-Hsuan, who won the inaugural Wistron Ladies Open, made three birdies, three bogeys, and one double-bogey on the par-3 16th to grab a share of lead on Day 1. “In difficult conditions like these, I wouldn’t want to ask for too much. I tried to keep with an upbeat tempo, trust my instinct, and I think I coped really well, saved a lot of shots with my putter,” Shih said. Best highlight of her round saw a chip-in birdie from 13 yards on the par-4 5th hole. She needed just 26 putts.

An Ho-Yu spent most of her year in the U.S. on LPGA’s developmental Epson Tour, and only until recently she discovered some form and consistency, timely securing her place on next year’s Epson Tour. “With more and more experiences in the new environment, I believe I’m going to do better in 2023,” said An.

Back on home soil, An recorded her second lifetime hole-in-one today at Sunrise, holing out from 161 yards on the 4th hole using a 7-iron. However, the eagle and one additional birdie weren’t quite enough to compensate her loss and give her a red figure. In fact, An was at 1-under par with just the 18th to finish, but a sudden, heavy wind on the 18th tee, unfortunately, carried her tee shot out of play. She ended up making a triple-bogey after a penalty and dropped back into the six-player tie.

An also made an impressive 20-foot, downhill chip-in on the 16th hole. She needed 29 attempts on the greens.

Rookie pro Chang Ya-Chun is one of the steadiest performers on the 2022 TLPGA Tour. She’s earned five top-10 finishes in eight outing, and she looks to challenge the top spot this week with an equal-best first-round. Chang registered two birdies and four bogeys on the round-one scorecard. “Patience is key, especially in a rare case that you have to be out there for more than seven hours for just eighteen holes, because of the challenging conditions,” Chang said. “So, I was just trying to stay very patient. I told myself this is a great chance to pick up some valuable experience. I’ll have to have the confidence to beat these kinds of weather to be competitive in other parts of the world.”

With a similar mindset, Babe Liu found herself atop the scoreboard after a relatively calm round with one birdie and three bogeys. “I’ve been playing solid, decent putting, so, yeah, it was a pretty good round, I’ll have to keep positive.”

Chang Ching-Ling carded one birdie and three bogeys as well, thanks to very good percentages both on and around the greens. “I tried to be patient and to wait until the wind turns down a bit to execute my shots, just to minimize the risks.” She created one of the only three birdie plays on the par-5 18th with a beautiful 12-foot finish.

Hsu Wei-Ling, highest-ranked player in the field, made the turn at even-par but fell to the winds and bombed away six shots on the back nine to finish the round in equal ninth. Her fellow LPGA Tour member Lee Min (李旻) only arrived at the Sunrise this morning, after three flights and a total of 27 hours in the air, and geared up straight for the first-round competition. “I was sipping coffee and taking vitamin-B to fight fatigue, but apparently it was still not good enough. I’ll have to rest up well for tomorrow. Still three rounds to go,” Lee said.

The rough conditions sent 14 players packing already, who put up scores of 88 or higher.

102 players from six countries are in the field this week in the 72-hole event, for a season-high $100,000 purse. Wistron, one of the global leaders in the ICT (Information and Communications Technology) field, has been an important partner with the TLPGA since 2006 and hosting the annual Wistron Ladies Open since 2020.

In fact, this is the biggest prize money a non-co-sanctioned tournament has offered in Tour history. Last year, the total prize money of the Wistron tournament had increased from NT$6 million in its inception year to NT$10 million ($330,000). This year, the 2022 Wistron Ladies Open became the richest tournament with a total prize of $500,000.

Set at 6,318 yards long for the week, the Sunrise layout has hosted some major international events such as the LPGA Taiwan Championship, and it was also chosen as the venue of the 2017 Taipei Summer Universiade.

Second-round action begins Thursday morning at 7 a.m.. Four Hole-in-One prizes will be on offer on No.2, 4, 11, and 16. A cut will be made to the top 50 players and ties at the end of the second-round