Chang Ya-Chun (張雅淳) made a 2-under 70 in the second round of the NT$3-million Da Da Digital Ladies Open to expand her lead to three shots at 7-under 137. Thai player Kornkamol Sukaree moved up fourteen places to sit in a tie for second with Chen Ling-Jie (陳伶潔), Chen Szu-Han (陳思涵), and Lynn Chiu (邱齡緹).

Chang Ya-Chun, who began the round holding a one-shot lead, holed a 14-footer to birdie the second hole but dropped back to even after missing a 13-foot par putt on the fourth. “It got carried away by the wind. I managed to make a nice chipping to set up the putt but it fell short,” Chang said. She found another opportunity just before the turn on the 9th hole, and took it immediately, which helped her to maintain a healthy two-shot lead till the end of the second round.

“My putter wasn’t as good as yesterday’s, but overall I was hitting well, not throwing too many mistakes, so it was still a pretty good round,” said Chang, who had four birdies and two bogeys on the card for the 35-35 second-round 70.

Sukaree registered four birdies, two of them on the final two holes, and zero bogey to shoot a low-round 68 and rise up fourteen places into equal second. “The birdie on the 10th from 36 feet away was a great confidence booster. I was gaining good control over my shots and getting plenty of scoring opportunities for myself on the back nine,” the Thai player said.

Chen Szu-Han (陳思涵) and Chen Ling-Jie (陳伶潔) again signed matching 71s to sit tied in the second place.

“I constantly went short with my putter today,” said Chen Ling-Jie, who committed three three-putts. “I was hoping to get one more birdie on the 17th, as I was going from a very promising position on my second shot, but it did not work out as expected.”

Chen Szu-Han also had a difficult time to string the good shots together. “Again, I started pretty well, making birdies on the 3rd and 6th, but as much as I hoped to, I just couldn’t quite keep the intensity up,” said Chen Szu-Han, who squandered a birdie opportunity from six feet on the 15th hole, finishing with nine straight pars on the second half of the day.

Chen Min-Jou (陳敏柔) shot a bogey-free 68 to find herself in a tie for sixth with Huang Ching (黃靖), who carded a 71. “It was pretty difficult on the greens with the way the grain was in multiple directions. I think I finally figured it out after the turn so I could make a couple of birdies,” Huang said.

Chen Hsuan (陳萱) and Tai Chia-Wen (戴嘉汶) also used their low-round 68s to make a move into the top page of the leaderboard at 2-under 142 in a seven-way tie for eighth.

Tai overcame a bogey at the first hole, quickly rebounding to birdie five of the next seven holes to finish with an impressive front-nine 32. However, she could not maintain her momentum on the back nine and stayed on 2-under with a five-shot deficit. “I feel I should make that 6-foot par putt on the last hole, but it is what it is. I hope that tomorrow, I can be just as aggressive as I was today,” said Tai, who shared the eighth place with Chen Hsuan, An Ho-Yu (安禾佑), Nanthikarn Raksachat, Juliana Hung (洪玉霖), Kultida Pramphun, and Lee Hsin (李欣).

The second annual Da Da Digital Ladies Open provides a NT$3-million purse. Da Da is a broadband service company in Taiwan initiated by the locally-renowned Da Feng cable company, which hopes to facilitate positive social relationships and connections through sporting events and various charitable endeavors organized by the Da Da Foundation. The international field is comprised of 66 local elites (and amateurs), 32 from Thailand, and 4 players form Japan, Hong Kong, and Malaysia.

A cut was made today to send only the top-50 players (and ties) into Friday’s finale. Tee time for the final round starts at 7:00.