Singapore golfer Shannon Tan finishes joint fourth in NCAA Division 1 regionals

SINGAPORE – After a tough start to life in the United States, Singapore golfer Shannon Tan finally feels settled in and is having a memorable end to her freshman year.

On Wednesday, she carded a two-under 70 to finish tied-fourth on her maiden outing at the NCAA Division I golf regionals with a 13-under 203 total.

The Texas Tech University undergraduate’s performance at the Palouse Ridge in Pullman, Washington, placed her six strokes behind Stanford University’s champion Rose Zhang, who won the 2020 US Women’s Amateur.

The 19-year-old will also be heading to the finals of the 2023 NCAA Division I women’s golf championship in Scottsdale, Arizona, as her university advanced to the national championships for the fourth time in its history. The national championship will start next Friday.

She said: “It was a good experience playing because I got to play with Rose Zhang (world No. 1 in amateur golf). Overall as a team, we’re happy to make it to nationals because it’s been a while. Nationals is the biggest stage in the college scene so it definitely means a lot to me.”

While Tan had initially found it hard to adjust to a new environment in college and moving to the US alone, things have become better and she feels that her experience in America has resulted in an improvement to her game.

Factors that have aided her include a good support system, such as the school providing nutritionists to help with performance and tutors to help her catch up in her schoolwork after she returns from competitions in different states.

Tan, who used to mainly train alone, also feels that being in a team with other golfers has helped push her to improve. She has also been able to glean valuable lessons from her team’s assistant coach Laurie Brower, a former LPGA player.

There have also been many more opportunities for Tan to compete and she has taken part in eight events since February. Before college, she played a tournament a month on average.

These competitions have allowed her to learn from top players such as Zhang. At this week’s regionals, she was in the championship flight with the American and took away some important lessons from playing alongside the 2023 Augusta National Women’s Amateur champion.

Of Zhang, Tan said: “She’s really consistent, she just hits fairways and greens, and all her putts have a chance to go in. And if it doesn’t go in, it’s a tap-in for her. So it’s almost a guaranteed par for her in almost every hole...

“She knows how to close out the round really well. I think I was one shot back with six holes to go but she just shot four under in the last six holes, she just knows how to close it out as compared to me.”

But she is encouraged by the progress that she has made in the United States, saying: “It was great to know that in a way that I was not too far away from her, I just need to learn how to finish up. Experience definitely plays a part and being able to hold all the nerves.”