Thai player P. K. Kongkraphan has secured a second straight WPG Ladies Open title on Saturday, bagging a NT$2.4 million prize check in the 72-hole event. She carded a 5-under 67 in the final round to win by four shots on 11-under 277. It is also a third consecutive top-3 finish and her second TLPGA Tour victory in three outings.

Third-round leader An Ho-Yu (安禾佑) made two crucial bogeys on the back nine and finished the final day with an even-par 72. She wrapped it up in equal second place at 7-under 281 alongside Shih Cheng-Hsuan (石澄璇), Wang Li-Ning (王莉甯) and Japanese Yuna Arakawa.

Wu Chun-Wei (吳純葳) won the low amateur honor after shooting a final-round 72 to finish in a tie for eighteenth at 287.

Kongkraphan carded five birdies and zero bogeys in the heat today at the Sunrise Golf & Country Club. “I tried to just look at the shot right in front of me, not thinking about how I might have messed up certain holes in the previous rounds, or where I was on the leaderboard. Just focus on the next shot,” said Kongkraphan, who remained strong off the tees all day; she barely missed any fairways.

Luck was on her side as well. During the competitive front nine, Kongkraphan faced a potential crisis on the sixth hole as her tee shot flew towards the left woods, but somehow was blocked by a tree and the ball bounced back on the fairway. She left the hole with her first birdie in the final round.

This is Kongkraphan’s fifth TLPGA Tour already. Her most recent victory was at the ICTSI Luisita Ladies International just three weeks ago.

An, who led by two shots at the start of the day with a first-hole birdie, made little splash and recorded eight consecutive pars to arrive at the turn. “I missed a couple of birdie opportunities on the par-5s (6th and 9th), which made me a little nervous, especially because I saw P.K. and all other girls going really well,” said An, who faded from the spotlight making two bogeys and just one birdie on the back nine to finish on 7-under. She needed 33 putts. “To have the lead into the final round is not something I’m very much used to. I feel I could have dealt with pressure better, but it was still a very good experience.”

Yuna Arakawa needed only 27 attempts on the greens today to jump into a top-2 finish with a low-round 66. This is just the second full TLPGA Tour season for the Japanese player. In 2023, Arakawa earned seven top-10 appearances, including a solo third finish at last year’s WPG Ladies Open.

“I felt more comfortable on the greens today compared to the first few rounds. And I was just feeling extremely well as the day went on. A few lucky drops on the back nine contributed to this wonderful finish,” Arakawa said.

Last year’s runner-up Shih Cheng-Hsuan posted a final-round 70 to share the second place, again, on 7-under-par. “I wasn’t hitting my woods and irons as well as yesterday. It wasn’t bad, but I couldn’t put the ball close enough to the pins to give myself some real birdie chances to really challenge the top,” said Shih, whose last victory came four years ago already at the 2020 Wistron Ladies Open. “I’m playing some consistent golf at the moment, and more importantly, I feel healthy. So I hope I can continue to play at this level and hopefully my time will come soon.” Also finishing in the four-way tie for second was Wang Li-Ning, who took just 26 putts. “My tee shots were flying left in the morning. I tried hit smaller from the tees to gain more control and I started to feel a lot better,” Wang said.

WPG Holdings, title-sponsor of the event, offered an increased purse from NT$4.5 million to NT$6 million in 2021, $10 million in 2022 and 2023, and now the stakes have increased yet again, making it one of the richest TLPGA Tour events on the calendar.

WPG is an ESG-friendly, global-leading distributor of semiconductor components. A new “Birdies for Trees” project is running this week---for every birdie/eagle/albatross scored during the four rounds, 1/10/100 new trees will be planted by WPG to preserve the local environments. After the final round was finished today, WPG announced a total of 1,287 trees earned in this year’s project.