TAIPEI, Taiwan – Jenny Shin shot a 5-under-par 67 for a share of the lead with Eun-Hee Ji after the second round of the Taiwan Championship on Friday.

Shin offset a pair of bogeys with seven birdies at Miramar Resort and Country Club, including a birdie-birdie finish.

“I had a really good break back there on the 18th hole,” Shin said. “My tee shot went to the right, but I got relief because it was completely underwater, and I took advantage of that. Made the putt on 17, so I wanted to keep running at it and made my last putt on 18.”

First-round leader Ji made a pair of bogeys and two birdies early, but birdied the par-5 18th for a 71.

“Not as great as yesterday but I don’t feel really bad,” Ji said. “I just struggled with my putting this first nine, and I get just a little bit better on the back nine. I just made it out a little bit. I’m pretty happy to make a birdie on the last.”

The leaders are at 7-under 137, one ahead of Brittany Altomare, who carded a 68.

Altomare missed only one fairway and hit 14 of 18 greens.

“I’ve just felt more and more comfortable out here,” Altomare said. “My caddie throughout the year, Dewi, she helped me stay confident and be comfortable in those positions, whereas last year, I didn’t feel so confident and comfortable.”

Alena Sharp of Hamilton shot 4-under and was tied for 14th at 1-under. Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., was well down the leaderboard after a round of 75 left her at 5-over par.

Su Oh of Australia was in sole possession of fourth place after she eagled the 18th to complete the day’s lowest score of 66 that also included two bogeys and six birdies.

Top-ranked So Yeon Ryu fired a 68 to move into contention at 3-under 141, four off the pace.

Sung Hyun Park, the U.S. LPGA Tour rookie of the year, continued to struggle and shot a 73 to be 5 over for the tournament.

TAIPEI, Taiwan – Eun-Hee Ji had a 6-under 66 on Thursday to take a three-stroke lead after the first round of the LPGA’s Taiwan Championship.

Ji got off to a strong start with back-to-back birdies at the Miramar Golf Country Club, and added four more to finish the round clear of fellow South Korean Sei Young Kim, Megan Khang and Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand.

Lydia Ko was in a group of five tied for fifth after a 70 that included three bogeys and five birdies.

Top-ranked So Yeon Ryu and No. 2 Sung Hyun Park struggled to find their rhythm. Ryu finished with a 73 for a share of 23rd place, and Park was 4 over.

Defending champion Ha Na Jang struggled in an opening round of 81.

Canada’s Brooke Henderson is tied for 34th after an opening-round 74 (+2).

INCHEON, Korea, Republic Of – South Korean Jin Young Ko overcame a sluggish start to clinch her first LPGA Tour victory at the KEB Hana Bank Championship on Sunday.

Ko, who had been two strokes in front overnight, bogeyed two of the first three holes at the Ocean Course before carding six birdies for a 68 and an overall 19-under total of 269.

“After I made the two bogeys I had a really long chat with my caddie,” Ko said. “He kept reminding me that being nervous was quite natural, that I needed to accept those nerves. I kept reminding myself of that.”

Sung Hyun Park, seeking her third LPGA Tour victory of the year and the chance to take over at the top of the Rolex Rankings for the first time, was denied both goals after closing with a 68 and finishing two shots behind Ko.

Park played flawless golf over the first 13 holes with four birdies, but a three-putt bogey at the 14th effectively halted her title bid.

“Although I didn’t win, I think I had a really solid, good round,” said Park. “It’s not easy to lower your score in the final group of the championship, and I managed to get a four-under round.

In Gee Chun, playing with compatriots Park and Ko in the final grouping, finished in third after carding a final-round 69.

Carlota Ciganda, who won last year’s LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship in a playoff with Alison Lee, tied for eighth with a final-round 72.

Canada’s Brooke Henderson continued her momentum from her win at the McKayson New Zealand Women’s Open, finishing at 10 under par in a tie for eighth.

The dream of playing on the LPGA Tour continues next week with Stage II of LPGA Qualifying Tournament at Plantation Golf & Country Club in Venice, Florida. The field of 192 hopefuls will compete from Thursday, October 19 through Sunday, October 23 on both the Bobcat and Panther courses to advance to Final Stage of LPGA Qualifying School where 20 players will earn full LPGA cards for 2018.

The low 80 and ties following the final round will advance to Final Stage. There is no cut. Players that do not finish in top 80 will still have Symetra Tour membership for the 2018 season.

The field this year is headlined by Leona Maguire, the No. 1 ranked amateur in the world according to the World Amateur Golf Rankings. In June, she captured the ANNIKA Award, which is given to the top college player in the country, for the second time in three years. Maguire is a senior at Duke and has won seven times during her tremendous college career. The No. 7 ranked amateur in the world, Chey­enne Knight, has is also in Stage II through her status as a top five ranked golfer in college according to Golfweek. Knight, a junior at Alabama, was a 2016-17 WGCA First-Team All-American and the SEC Player of the Year. She led the Crimson Tide with a scoring average of 70.77.

There are five Canadians competing in the field: Elizabeth Tong (Thornhill, Ont.), Christina Foster (), Megan Osland (Kelowna, B.C.), Brogan McKinnon (Mississauga, Ont.), Anna Young (Saskatoon, Sask.).

The field also includes a breakout young star from the 2017 Solheim Cup, Georgia Hall. She ranks No. 38 in the world and is third on the Ladies European Tour Order of Merit. Hall, 20, stole headlines at the Solheim Cup by going 2-3 and was the only player to play all five matches.

The second highest ranked player in the field is Fumika Kawagishi of Japan, who ranks No. 44 in the world. She is the third highest ranked player from Japan.

There are 90 players in the field that advanced from Stage I including Linnea Strom (Gothenburg, Swe­den), who won medalist honours. Strom was a First-Team All-American at Arizona State in 2017.

There is also one 2017 Symetra Tour winner in the field. Chorphaka Jaegnkit (Bangkok, Thailand) won the Decatur-Forsyth Classic, but finished 32nd on the money list.

There are 26 amateurs in the field and players from 34 countries around the world. The youngest two players are the field are Youngin Chun (a) of Gainesville, Fla. and Eun Jeong Seong of South Korea, both 17. The oldest player in the field is Vikki Laing of Scotland, who is 36.

Play will begin at 8 a.m. all four days of the tournament.

Click here for the full field.

INCHEON, Korea, Republic Of – Jin Young Ko fired a bogey-free 6-under 66 Saturday to take a two-shot lead after the third round of the KEB Hana Bank Championship.

The South Korean carded six birdies on the Ocean Course, including two in her last three holes, to post a 15-under total of 201. Compatriots Sung Hyun Park and In Gee Chun both shot 68 and are tied for second at 13-under 203.

“My iron shots today were really strong so I was able to make a lot of birdie chances for myself,” said Ko, a nine-time winner on the local KLPGA Tour.

Park, looking for her third LPGA Tour victory of the year, played solid golf for most of the third round with five birdies and a sole bogey in her first 17 holes. She did well to salvage par at the last after pushing her drive way right into a hazard and having to take a penalty drop.

“Overall, I’m quite pleased with my game today,” said Park, who has a mathematical chance of taking over at the top of the Rolex Rankings with a win on Sunday. “I finished 4 under on the front nine. I thought I would keep the momentum on the back nine, but my putting was a little bit off compared to the front nine.”

Lizette Salas of the United States offset a lone bogey with five birdies for a 68 and was in sole possession of fourth place.

Brooke Henderson moved into contention with a bogey-free 68 and is tied for eighth, five strokes off the lead.

Earlier this month, she stormed to a five-stroke victory at the MCKAYSON New Zealand Women’s Open to claim her first LPGA title outside North America and now she will enter Sunday’s final round five strokes off the pace – although admittedly with a lot of work to do.

“That’s really exciting,” Henderson said after finishing at 10-under 206. “There are a few people that I would have to climb over, but if I could go out and shoot an under-par round, minus 6 or something like that, and put some pressure on the leaders and kind of be the leader in the clubhouse, that’s my goal. I would like to do that.”

As for the opportunity to win for the first time in Asia? “Yeah, that’s awesome,” she grinned. “I was really excited to get that win outside of North America a few weeks ago, and so to get one in Asia would be really cool, especially with all the fans that have been supporting us the past few days.”

LPGA Tour rookie Angel Yin once again overpowered the par-five holes on the Ocean Course with her prodigious hitting to charge two strokes clear after the second round of the LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship on Friday.

On a sun-kissed day at SKY72 Golf & Resort, Yin fired a sizzling seven-under-par 65 to post an 11-under total of 133, the highlight of her round coming at the par-five fifth where she struck a 6-iron to 12 feet and coolly sank the eagle putt.

“That got everything started,” said Yin, who went on to record six birdies and one bogey as she rocketed to the top of the leaderboard. “I made a few pars in the beginning, but that eagle just fired everything up.

“The par-fives, I’m able to hit irons into them, which is very helpful. I can get closer. Like with my eagle, I hit a 6-iron in and ended up with a 12-foot putt. The last hole, the par-five 18th, I had a 4-iron in. Irons, you get more accuracy on them.”

Yin covered the four par-five holes in a blistering five-under to shoot the equal low round of the day, local favorite In Gee Chun having earlier carded a 65 to share second place with World No. 2 Sung Hyun Park (69) and Jin Young Ko (67).

In Gee, a two-time winner on the LPGA Tour is still hunting her first victory of the season, having recorded five runner-up spots among her eight top-10s in 2017. However, she prefers to dwell on the positives of her near-misses rather than on the negatives.

“I’m quite proud of myself for maintaining the scores that I have been showing lately,” said In Gee, who along with Sung Hyun attracted the biggest galleries of the day on the Ocean Course. “And this event as well I’m kind of playing without any really negative thoughts. In that sense, I look forward to the weekend. Also I put a lot of meaning in this event, especially that I can have more fun with my fans.”

Canada’s Brooke Henderson rebounded in Friday’s second round with a 5-under-par 67 to climb into a tie for 13th place with Lexi Thompson. Alena Sharp of Hamilton, Ont., registered an even-par 72 to sit in a tie for 55th.

Victory in her last start has certainly made World No. 11 Brooke Henderson one of the players to watch this week at the LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship, and the bubbly Canadian has set her sights on continuing to ride her wave of momentum.

“It has been a little bit of an up-and-down season for me, but getting my second tour win of the season just a few days ago gave me a lot of confidence and a lot of momentum,” said Henderson, who triumphed by five strokes at the MCKAYSON New Zealand Women’s Open after having to contend with wind-swept, rainy conditions in the last two rounds.

“I only have five events left on the LPGA Tour this year, which really isn’t that many. I really want to focus and work hard and see if I can finish in the top 10 and get some top-five finishes and hopefully move my CME rank up a little bit. That’s kind of where my main focus is going into for the next five weeks.

“Just continuing to gain experience and learn every single day, so that next year I can be even better than this year,” added Henderson, who is the only LPGA Tour player with multiple victories in both 2016 and 2017.

Asked by local reporters to put her finger on why it is that Korean golfers have been so successful in global golf over the past two decades, Henderson replied: “They’re very talented. I’m sitting amongst four ladies that are role models and inspirations to me as well.”

Henderson was accompanied by So Yeon Ryu, Sung Hyun Park and In Gee Chun in a packed media center at SKY72 Golf & Resort for a pre-tournament press conference.

“As for the secret to it, I have no idea,” smiled the Canadian. “You’ll have to ask these girls. I think they do work really hard and they’re very passionate about the game of golf and they have strong goals and they’re willing to work really hard to achieve them.

“I think that’s something that everybody can learn from, golfers or even people in business or just everyday life. You know, pick a goal and then work as hard as you can to achieve it.”

When the 2018 LPGA season gets underway there will be at least one new Canadian competing full-time on Tour. That of course is Team Canada Young Pro Squad member Anne-Catherine Tanguay.

The Quebec City native locked up her card by finishing at No. 8 in the Symetra Tour’s season-long money list.

With five top 10 finishes and a win at the Garden City Charity Classic in September, Tanguay had all but guaranteed her place next year on the LPGA Tour.

“It’s just really incredible…This week everything just clicked,” said the 26-year-old in an interview with Symetra Tour officials immediately after her win which scored her over $22,000 (USD).

“One of my biggest goals was to pick a target and take an aggressive and fearless swing and that is really what got me through,” added the University of Oklahoma alumna, who majored in business.

Tanguay also mentioned after her big victory that she was feeling a lot of nerves prior to the final round but was fortunate to receive strong support and comforting words from her caddie, JH Trahan – who is also her long time boyfriend, and now, her fiancé.

During the CP Women’s Open last month, she spoke about their relationship and recent engagement.

“Yeah, actually we got engaged about three weeks ago. We were on the road just before Wisconsin, so we just decided to kind of keep it low. So we’ve had some time to digest the news,” said Tanguay in a pre-tournament presser at the Ottawa Hunt & Golf Club.

“I don’t know if it really changes anything, but for sure I’m really happy that my fiancé is with me, and it’s been a really a game-changer for me this year,” continued the 26-year-old who first met Trahan during a junior golf development camp almost 15 years ago.

“So he does caddie and little bit of coaching and little bit of everything, so I’m just really, really excited about the engagement and about him having to be with me. So, we’re just really excited,” she added.

After her triumph at Buffalo Dunes, Tanguay took to her official Facebook page to thank those who have stood by her side and supported her in her journey.

“First of all, thank you Golf Canada and the Young Pro Squad for giving me the opportunities and resources to develop & grow into the player I am today. Thank you Tristan Mullally, Christie Gialloreto and Greg Redman for all your time & hard work,” she wrote.

“Thank you to all of you who follow my journey and send me words of encouragement throughout the year, it means a lot and I greatly appreciate it,” Tanguay added.

“Last but not least, thank you to my family and friends for always being there for me, for loving and supporting me unconditionally.”

According to Team Canada national women’s team head coach, Tristan Mullally, the talented young golfer is doing all the right things to be successful on the golf course.

“Anne-Catherine has played great this year. She’s someone who is really disciplined, organized, and works extremely hard – and always has a plan,” he said of Tanguay, who first joined the national team program in 2009 as part of the Development Squad.

Mullally notes that the current Young Pro Squad member greatly benefits from having a dedicated team around her.

“Our team has worked extremely well with her to support her in all aspects of her game,” he pointed out.

“She’s also got great support on the course as her fiancé is her caddie and that’s been working well for them. So overall, she’s well supported on and off the course; and that’s allowing her to play to her potential.”

Mullally adds that being able to play to her potential, combined with her consistency, has been the keys to Tanguay’s breakthrough success this year.

“Anne-Catherine hits the ball a long way and is solid on the greens also; so she’s got a well-rounded game and she’s been able to put all the pieces together nicely this year,” Mullally said.

“She’s also been very consistent and has just been going out there and playing her game – and is very deserving of all the success that she’s enjoyed.”

Team Canada Young Pro Squad member Anne-Catherine Tanguay of Quebec City has earned her LPGA Tour card for the 2018 season following the Symetra Tour Championship on Sunday at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Fla.

The 26-year-old Oklahoma State graduate is among the top-10 Symetra Tour athletes to finish atop the season-long money list, the Volvik Race to the Card:

1. Benyapa Niphatsophon $124,492
2. Hannah Green $113,880
3. Celine Boutier $112,044
4. Nanna Koerstz Madsen $93,115
5. Yu Liu $86,110
6. Erynne Lee $80,780
7. Lindsey Weaver $76,755
8. Anne-Catherine Tanguay $76,663
9. Emma Talley $76,556
10. Katelyn Dambaugh $63,023

Tanguay is set to join the current Canadian contingent on the LPGA Tour: Brooke Henderson (Smiths Falls, Ont.), Alena Sharp (Hamilton, Ont.), Maude-Aimee LeBlanc (Sherbrooke, Que.), and Jennifer Ha (Calgary).

Tanguay started the year red hot with six straight top 15 finishes including a tie for second at the IOA Championship and a third-place finish at the Gateway Classic at Longbow Golf Club. She had her breakthrough moment in September when she won the Garden City Charity Classic. She played her college golf at Oklahoma and totaled 15 top 10 finishes and 26 top 20’s. She got engaged to her now-fiancé midway through the 2017 season.

“It’s been my dream, and when you work your whole life to get there it’s such a big accomplishment. Words are hard to explain what I’m feeling, and I think it’s hitting me today. It’s just awesome, it’s such a good Tour, and the level and recognition all over the world. I’m really excited to start traveling the world next year.”

When you see mom after realizing the @LPGA dream! @ACTanguay looking safe for a spot on the big tour!! pic.twitter.com/TELkungtQk

— Symetra Tour (@ROAD2LPGA) October 9, 2017

The next 15 players on the season-ending money list will be exempt from Stage II of LPGA Qualifying School, excluding those with LPGA status already. Fellow Canadian Brittany Marchand of Orangeville, Ont. joins those who punched their tickets directly to Stage III which will be on Nov. 27-Dec. 3 at LPGA International. Marchand came in at No. 25 after a season that was highlighted by a win at PHC Classic.