Taiwan’s Teresa Lu (盧曉晴) survived an up-and-down finish over her last five holes to secure victory in the Japan LPGA Championship Konica Minolta Cup, the second major of the year on the LPGA of Japan Tour, at the Passage Kinkai Island Golf Club in Nagasaki, Japan, yesterday.
Lu fired a one-under-par 71 — one of only four under-par rounds carded by the 61-player field yesterday — to give her a four-round total of seven-under 281 for a two-shot victory over Japan’s Miki Sakai and Momoko Ueda.
She offset late bogeys on the 14th and 17th holes with birdies on 16 and 18 to keep her closest pursuers at bay in the ¥140 million (US$1.16 million) event.
Lu’s fourth victory this year on the Japanese women’s golf tour and the eighth of her career earned her a ¥25.2 million payday, boosting her prize money for the year in Japan to more than ¥114 million, the second-best on tour.
The other Taiwanese player in the field, Phoebe Yao (姚宣榆), fired the low round of the day, a two-under-par 70, to finish in a tie for seventh.
It was Yao’s third top-10 showing on the LPGA of Japan Tour this year, and her ¥4.2 million in prize money moved her up from 52nd to 35th on the money list.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source