S’pore golfers Koh Sock Hwee and Amanda Tan seek new start in Taiwan after a challenging 2024

SINGAPORE – After a tough 2024 for Amanda Tan and Koh Sock Hwee, the Singaporean golfers are charting new paths together as they take their sporting pursuits closer to home.

While they were playing in different countries – Tan on the United States’ second-tier Epson Tour and Koh on the Ladies European Tour (LET) Access series, the development tour for the LET – both faced similar struggles with their form, prompting them to turn to the Taiwan LPGA (TLPGA) Tour.

In late November, they earned their TLPGA Tour cards for the 2025 season, with Koh and Tan coming in 15th and 17th respectively in a qualifying tournament at the Sun City Golf Club in Hsinchu.

The season will begin with the Hitachi Air Conditioning Ladies Classic from Jan 10 to 12. The tournament, which takes place at Sunrise Golf and Country Club in Taoyuan, has a NT$10 million (S$415,300) prize purse.

Koh said: “Playing in the second tour in Europe, the money is not a lot but your expenses are very high, so it might not make economical sense.

“After making that decision to focus on Asia and keeping our China Tour card, trying to secure Taiwan was the main goal.”

The 35-year-old, who previously played on the TLPGA Tour for three years, is pleased to have secured a full schedule on the Taiwanese tour next season after they finished in the top 20 of the qualifying tournament.

She is looking forward to a return to Taiwan, having been further away from home for the past two years, competing in LET and LET Access events.

In addition to not playing as well as she had hoped, there was the stress of settling the logistics such as accommodation, flights and transport for her upcoming competitions.

Many events were on the outskirts of the European cities, which sometimes made things inconvenient due to the language barrier and the inaccessibility of amenities like supermarkets.

There was also pressure from not making cuts. In the 14 events she played until she returned to Singapore in September, she made only four cuts.

World No. 1,293 Koh added: “Naturally you are upset when you miss the cut and then it subconsciously adds a little bit more pressure to your next event because you’re trying to make the cut but actually, you shouldn’t even be focusing on the cut to begin with, but it inevitably creeps in.”

Tan, 25, also struggled as her performance fluctuated. She would be playing well one moment and the next, bad experiences from previous events would get to her.

The world No. 1,133, who became the first Singaporean golfer to earn an Epson Tour card in 2022, also felt the pressure to make cuts as she did not have a full status this season, which meant fewer events to compete in.

After three missed cuts in three events, Tan’s mother, who was with her in the United States for over two months, suggested they return to Singapore and consult her Australia-based coach Ian Triggs.

Tan said: “Everything that was happening, it made everything quite stressful, which affected the golf. Then it led to me questioning, ‘Why am I here? Why am I doing this’?”

But a trip to Australia in August assuaged her concerns as Triggs assured her that her swing was good.

She and Koh then headed to China to play a few events in order to keep their China LPGA Tour cards, before going for the TLPGA’s qualifying tournament.

Having each other around is also comforting. Tan said it is a big difference, after having competed alone overseas.

Expenses are also something that they have to be mindful of.

The duo, who conduct coaching sessions whenever they are in Singapore, expressed gratitude for financial backing from the Singapore Golf Association’s professional programme partnership with Radar Tyres.

This gives the Republic’s golfers access to resources, including mental and swing coaches, allowing them to be more “all-rounded players without worrying about the financial burden”, said Koh.

This support is instrumental as the duo feel that there is more to come from them.

Tan said: “We still believe that we can keep getting better. For me, I turned pro early so that I can give myself the most time and know I did whatever I could to play.”