First-round action of the ICTSI Luisita Ladies International, a TLPGA Tour and LPGT (Ladies Philippine Golf Tour) co-sanctioned event, kickstarted on Tuesday at the Clark Freeport Zone, Philippines.

Weather was extremely challenging for the 81 golfers gathering from eight countries on Tuesday as temperature hit 44°C in Central Luzon. TLPGA member Chen Hsuan (陳萱) settled nicely to the conditions on the back nine and finished with an opening-round 68, carding six birdies and two bogeys, to snatch the lead.

Thailand’s Queen Meesom-us is sitting in solo second after shooting five birdies and two bogeys, while her compatriots Punpaka Phuntumabamrung, Budsabakorn Sukapan, and Taiwan’s Wu Chih-Yun (吳芷昀) sit in a tie for third at 2-under 70.

“We had a pro-am to test these greens yesterday, but I felt like I still wasn’t very comfortable on them coming into the first round today, until probably the back nine,” said Wu about the slow Tifdwarf turfgrass at the Luisita Golf and Country Club. “I was lucky that I went out pretty early so the wind wasn’t a big distraction. I could take my time to get the groove going. And I’m glad that I did.”

Chen could have built a two-shot advantage if not for an 18th-hole bogey. “I’m carrying a wrist pain, but I tried to stick with it, with my wrist brace on, and just let the game flow,” Chen said.

Starting from the 10th tee, Meesom-us also need some extra holes to settle into the unfamiliar setting.

She made two bogeys on her outward nine but bounced back to close the round with five birdies, zero blemish on the back-nine score card, and temporarily sit in lone second place.

“It’s my first time playing here. I think I’m doing okay. I hit a lot of fairways. The par-3 17th was one of the most difficult holes for me today. There was a huge pond in front of us, and the green is tiny,” the Thai said, who faced the wind on the 17th tee and finally left with a bogey.

Wu made it onto 15 greens in regulation in the first round, setting up some easy scoring chances and wrapping it up with a 2-under 70. “The ball was moving very slow on the greens. I had an attempt from 12 yards on the first hole, which rolled just about 8 yards and stopped. It was that bad,” Wu said. “But I was trying my best to quickly adjust myself from the second hole onwards, and I was happy with the way I played.”

Yu Han-Hsuan (俞涵軒) needed only 26 putts in today’s round, but a couple of careless mistakes kept her from making the top-10 on the leaderboard, including a bogey on the par-3 6th where she mis-took a smaller club and sent the ball into the water trap. She is now in a tie for 11th on even-par 72 with Chen Chih-Min (陳之敏) and four other players.

This is the 15th tournament co-sanctioned by the TLPGA Tour and LPGT since the two tours joined forces to collaborate on the ICTSI Ladies Open in 2015. “We are very excited to celebrate the 10th year of our partnership here at the beautiful Luisita Golf and Country Club. My heart is filled with gratitude,” said TLPGA Chairwoman Liu Yi-Chen on the gala event after the traditional pro-am yesterday. “I believe our 50 ladies from the TLPGA Tour will be bringing out their best performance this week in this beautiful resort.”

The ICTSI Ladies Open was TLPGA Tour’s first oversea co-sanction after it was accepted into the WWGR (World Women’s Golf Rankings) system.

The 2024 ICTSI Luisita Ladies International, presented by International Container Terminal Services Inc., features a US$100,000 purse.