Chinese Taipei Duo Raise Asia-Pacific Spirits

Augusta, Georgia, United States: Chinese Taipei duo Lu Hsin-yu and Tiffany Huang Ting-hsuan kept the Asia-Pacific flag flying in the fourth edition of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur (ANWA).

For the second day running, though, the main plaudits belonged to Stanford sophomore Rose Zhang, number one in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).

The American followed her opening 66 at Champions Retreat with a seven-under 65. With a 36-hole total of 13-under 131, Zhang will head into Saturday’s final round at Augusta National with a five-stroke lead from Sweden’s Andrea Lignell. The University of Georgia’s Jenny Bae is a further stroke back in third.

There’s then a four-shot gap back to fourth place, shared by South African Caitlyn Macnab and Chinese Taipei’s Lu, who added a two-under 70 to her opening 71.

Six other Asia-Pacific representatives finished among the top-30 to survive the cut – Koreans Lim Ji-yoo (tied sixth, 142) and Park Bo-hyun (tied ninth, 143); Japanese Hinano Muguruma, Saki Baba and Yuna Araki (all tied 14th, 144); and Huang (tied 21st, 145).

New Zealand’s Fiona Xu and Australian Justice Bosio (147) both suffered the anguish of missing the cut by one while Korean Kim Min-sol and China’s Zhang Yahui (148) fell two shots shy of the axe.

Also making an early exit were Malaysian Jeneath Wong, Thai Eila Galitsky and Japan’s Rin Yoshida (all 149); along with Mamika Shinchi and Sayaka Teraoka (both 150), Nika Ito (152), Mizuki Hashimoto (153), Miku Ueta (158) and Tsubasa Kajitani (162), all of Japan.

All participants have the consolation of being able to play a practice round at Augusta National, the home of the Masters Tournament, on Friday.

While Park Bo-hyun produced one of the shots of the day on Thursday, making a hole-in-one at the eighth, Lu and Huang both enhanced their reputations.

Making her second ANWA appearance, University of Oregon junior Lu made three birdies against a solitary dropped shot to continue her good recent run of form, having posted top-20 finishes in four of her five starts this season for Oregon.

As well sharing sixth place in the 2022 Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific (WAAP) at Siam Country Club in Thailand, last year she was a member of the winning International Arnold Palmer Cup team in Switzerland and competed in the North & South Women’s Amateur in North Carolina.

Huang, meanwhile, displayed the battling qualities that brought her victory in the 2022 WAAP.

Languishing in joint 67th spot after an opening 79, Huang soared up the leaderboard with a sparkling 66, one shot short of pace-setting Zhang’s best-of-the-day performance.