Ching Huang fired a round of 65 (-7) to storm into the lead at the 54-hole mark of the 2026 Wistron Ladies Open.
The Chinese Taipei player made her first birdie on the fifth hole and rolled in four consecutively before making her only bogey of the day on the ninth.
Huang continued her fine form at Sunrise Golf and Country Club with birdies on 10, 12, 16 and 18 to move to the top of the leaderboard on 14-under-par.
“My driver is not bad today and my irons were not 100% perfect, but the result is perfect and it’s good,” said Huang, who won on the TLPGA earlier this year. “I made all the birdies on this windy day is so crazy.
“I know when I first started the greens were going to be very fast because my tee time was almost in the afternoon. With the wind, I had to really control the speed. Today, it’s good. I have a little mistake on my ninth hole, but that still made me feel I need to focus on right now. It was a good miss and reminded me I have to focus on every putt.
“My season has been up and down. These few years I played really good and I didn’t expect to win in the first event of the year. This year was really up and down, the scores were sometimes up and down, so it meant my confidence was up and down. But this week I can build some confidence going into another LET event next week.
“Tomorrow, I don’t know if I should hope for it to be windy or not because if it’s not windy then everyone has got a chance, but if it’s windy then it’ll be difficult for everyone. I just want to be patient and focus on my every shot, I think the good result will show in my score.”
South Africa’s Casandra Alexander is in solo second place one shot back after a round of 68 (-4).
The Ladies European Tour (LET) Order of Merit leader had eight birdies and four bogeys on her scorecard on day three.
“It was a tough day out there. Doug and I said if we can be level par, then anything else on top of that would be a bonus. At the same time, I feel I did leave a couple of shots out there, but it was tricky conditions,” said the three-time LET winner Alexander.
“It’s so easy for us to be hard on ourselves. There were a couple of wedges where it was straight downwind and then I’ve made a drop from there which feels frustrating, but it is part of the tricky conditions. Overall, I’m happy, I wouldn’t say disappointed, but it was close. It was good and another day to go.
“I feel a lot more relaxed because I don’t have to win. Usually, it’s like you have to win, but at the same time I’m not taking my foot off the gas. I’d like to win as many golf tournaments as possible and every time you get to a tournament you want to win.
“I’m in a good position and I haven’t been in the final group as much as one would think, so it’s also nice to just gain that experience no matter the outcome tomorrow. I will definitely be going for it.”
England’s Hannah Screen is in outright third place on 12-under-par after a round of 70 (-2) at Sunrise Golf and Country Club.
The English player had a difficult start to the day making a double bogey after a plugged ball in the bunker on the first but recovered with pars before her first birdie of the day on the eighth.
She added back-to-back birdies on the 13th and 14th holes and followed with another birdie on 17 to move into third place.
“It was tough out there for sure. The wind was very strong which I knew going out. I got a lovely lie on the first, so I had to take a drop out of the bunker. I don’t think I’ve ever had to do that, but it was really plugged up against the lip because we couldn’t see the ball,” said Screen.
“That was a shame, but I felt like I played steady from there and managed to claw it back. I hit two shots pretty close on the front nine to a foot which always helps get a couple back.
“I’m really proud of myself. There were definitely times where I was cutting it fine and almost making a bogey. I holed some really good par putts and that momentum kept me going to the back nine where I knew there was probably going to be a few more opportunities with the wind direction.
“I actually felt a lot more comfortable than I have in the past [in the final group]. Playing with a Taiwanese girl helped because the crowd was there for her and they weren’t really reacting to anything I was doing.
“I’m going to try and take that same mindset into tomorrow of me and my caddie playing against the course and see how I do. I’ve made a lot of birdies the last few days and bounced back from a mistake today, so hopefully whatever happens tomorrow, I can just keep that momentum going.”
England’s Mimi Rhodes is one shot further back on 11-under-par in fourth place after a round of 68 (-4).
The Solheim Cup winner had two birdies on her front nine before a dropped shot on 11. She made further birdies on 13 and 15, another bogey followed on 16, but she finished with back-to-back birdies on 17 and 18.
“I’m really happy. Obviously, today was a bit tougher but I think I hit every fairway, so my driver is in a good spot. Everything else is in a good spot. It was tough in the wind because I placed myself in the wrong spots on the green, I’d say,” said Rhodes.
“The wind wasn’t moving it as much as I thought. It’ll be nice tomorrow to have a bit less wind, you can go at the pins a bit more. The putts started dropping at the end, which was nice, but hitting every fairway is pretty good.
“I’m hoping that the putter gets hot early on [tomorrow] because in the last couple of rounds, I’ve just had to make putts at the end of the round, and I want to put the pressure on everyone else at the start. Hopefully, that gets hot and to just keep hitting fairways and picking better targets into the greens to give myself better chances.”
Chinese Taipei’s Cheng-Hsuan Shih, who led at the 36-hole mark, sits in fifth place on 10-under-par.
Five players round out the top 10 with home stars Pei-Ying Tsai, Phoebe Yao and Juliana Hung alongside Thailand’s Cholcheva Wongras and Denmark’s Smilla Tarning Soenderby in T6.
The final round of the 2026 Wistron Ladies Open will begin at 6.40 am (local time) with the leading group teeing off at 10.37 am (local time) at Sunrise Golf and Country Club.
Keep up to date with all the action throughout the tournament via @LETgolf on Instagram and X and Ladies European Tour on Facebook and YouTube – #2026WistronLadiesOpen.
