A bogey-free scorecard at Taiwan Golf and Country Club, with four birdies on the front and two on the back, saw him top the leader board again in the US$1 million event and comfortably handle the fact that this year the event is back on the Asian Tour. Unlike last season when, because of the global pandemic, it had to be played as a local event. 

Thailand’s Sarit Suwannarut, Donlaphatchai Niyomchon and Nitithorn Thippong, India’s Rashid Khan, and Hung Chien-yao from Chinese-Taipei shot 67s.

Another shot back are Aussie pair Daniel Fox and Scott Strange along with four others, while last week’s winner Travis Smyth opened with a 71.

Remarkably, when Wang Wei-hsiang triumphed in 2021 it came a year after his brother Wang Wei-hsuan had been victorious – again when, due to COVID-19, the event was not on the Asian Tour schedule. 

“Not thinking too much about my title defence,” said Wang Wei-hsiang, 26 and three years older than his brother, who carded a 74 today.

“Not much pressure to be honest. I told myself to stay relax and not give myself too much pressure. The conditions this week are not quite similar to last year. The course has improved and the greens are faster. It felt like summer wind out there, different from past years. Felt like we were playing in Southeast Asia. I was actually aiming to shoot even par today.”

He has engaged the services of local professional Chen Yu-zhen to caddie for him this week, which based on today’s round, could well mean he is the man to beat this week.

“It's his home course here so he knows the course very well. He helped me a lot with the greens this week. He gave me a lot of good advice,” he added.