Fan, Chen share Shanghai lead(3)

　　Yang continued her impressive debut in a week in which she has had to cope with updates about the earthquake in her native Sichuan province, which caused damage to her home and left her parents and elder sister’s family living in a tent.

　　The Chengdu-born 25-year-old, who had birdies on one and five and bogeys on eight and 10, enjoyed playing with good friend Huang Mingjie, who is also from Sichuan province and matched Yang’s rounds of 77, 72 and 72.

　　“I feel like the Gods were smiling on me today as the wind wasn’t strong when I played, which meant it was good conditions,” said Yang, who is playing the event at the invitation of the Orient Golf Group, who she signed with last October.

　　“Huang Mingjie is a very good player and was outdriving me by about 50 to 60 yards. However, it’s not a very long course, so I was able to do okay.”

　　Huang, who has had nine top-10 finishes on the Omega China Tour, was delighted to see his friend perform well under pressure.

　　“We’ve played together before in Sichuan,” said the 27-year-old. “She has improved a lot and become a much steadier player. She scored well today, but she deserved it the way she played.”

　　Huang said the pair talked about the earthquake during their round, both speaking in a Sichuan dialect, and admitted that helping in the recovery was the main motivation for him playing this week.