Day one at the YTS & SUNCITY Heritage Tour at the Suncity Golf Club saw Chen Szu-Han (陳思涵) become the only pro golfer to break par. She shot three birdies without a bogey to card a 69.

Lee Chia-Pei (李佳霈), Liang Yi-Ling (梁宜羚), and Tsai Hsin-En (蔡欣恩) sit in a tie for second after returning to the clubhouse with matching 73s. They were four strokes behind Chen. This tournament is played in a 36-hole format.

Chen started off slow and steady with eight pars before seizing her chance on the par-5 ninth hole with a chip-and-putt birdie. She followed it up with a par on the tenth and found her range again to make a pair of birdies in a row on the next two holes, sinking a 15-footer and a 12-footer on the green.

She hit 10 fairways and 14 greens in today’s round, needing 29 putts.

“Putting was the weak link of my game today. The slopes and breaks made it hard to read,” said Chen. “I think I really left about three or four birdies out there. Hopefully, I can get those in when I have the same opportunity in the final round.”

With a victory last June on Japan’s second-tier Step-Up Tour, Chen earned a special exempt to play in all tour events in 2018; however, her status was dropped mid-way through the season because of uninspired results, which leaves her in the alternate list.

“I wasn’t doing as well as I hoped in Japan. Now in this second half of the season, I’ll need to give myself more experience on the TLPGA Tour, and to improve my game, and hopefully I can realize my goal to be more successful in Japan next year.”

Lee Chia-Pei came out with an aggressive game plan, firing four birdies through sixteen, including a hole-out from 33 feet just off of green using a putter. She made just two bogeys along the way, but a sudden loss of control with her driver caused her to drop three shots in the last two holes. She used 24 attempts on the greens

Steady short game helped Liang to sit in equal second, four shots off the lead, before tomorrow’s final round. She had three birdies and four bogeys. Highlights of the day include a chip-in birdie from six yards on the sixth hole, and a putt going in from 30 feet away. Tsai Hsin-En, the other player among the group of three women chasing, also used three birdies and four bogeys to finished with 73.

Second-best player on the course today saw sophomore in the Kansas State University, Chou Yi-Tsen (周怡岑), registered an impressive 2-under 70 with five birdies and three bogeys. A par on the par-3 12th where she overcame a driving miss with a perfectly placed save by a 58-degree wedge – to just one foot – was one of the best performances on Tuesday; her longest successful putt was made on the hole after, on the 13th, from 18 feet.

Chou admitted she was not in ideal shape after a tight three-tournament schedule in July, two of them were on the ICTSI Tour in the Philippines. So, she deliberately kept more time in between shots and make her preparation longer before a swing, which helped her, in an unexpected but positive way, to be calmer in her decision making.

The TLPGA Heritage Series applies the pro-junior system, in which the TLPGA pros are grouped with amateurs and junior golfers, with an aim to provide a platform for closer interaction between the experienced and the young prospects.

Besides Group Professionals, Group Amateurs of Women’s 16-25 (15-player), Boys’/Girls’ 12-16 (10/11-player), Juniors’ 8-12 (12-player), and 9 pro-test participants were also in action today. The first-day pro-test cutline was set at 16-over 88.

Set at 6,067 yards long in this week’s competition, the 36-hole event is title-sponsored by the YTS Technology and the Suncity Golf Club. The YTS Group has been a steady top-3 manufacturer in the airtight window market in Taiwan for over 40 years.

Final-round play will begin at 6:30 on Wednesday morning from the first and tenth tees. The final group will be set off to go at 8:25.