S’pore golfer Shannon Tan places tied-16th at Evian Championship for her best finish at a Major

SINGAPORE – Singaporean golfer Shannon Tan has extended her record of improving her finish at every Major she played in 2026.

The 22-year-old carded a three-under 68 in the final round of the Evian Championship in France on July 12 to finish tied-16th, surpassing her previous best result at a Major.

That came at the Women’s PGA Championship at the Hazeltine National Golf Club in Minnesota in late June, when she tied for 32nd.

It was six spots higher than her joint-38th finish at the Chevron Championship in April, which was also an improvement on her previous best Major mark – a tied-40th placing at the Women’s British Open in August 2025.

Coming into the tournament in France, Tan said that one main area of focus was limiting dropped shots, a goal she managed to hit as she made just five bogeys over the four rounds.

She said: “At Majors, the margins are so small, so avoiding mistakes is just as important as making birdies.

“It’s about having a solid game plan, knowing when to be aggressive and when to stay patient, and I think that’s something that comes with experience.

“I’ve also become a lot more intentional with my preparation. Now that I’ve played a few Majors, I know what to expect in terms of the course set-up, so I can adjust my practice accordingly.”

At the Evian Resort Golf Club, the world No. 85 went over par in just one of her four rounds, shooting scores of 69, 72, 67 before closing with a 68 on July 12 to wrap up the tournament with an eight-under 276 total, tying with the likes of four-time LPGA winner Jennifer Kupcho (68) of the US.

Tan, who won the Order of Merit title on the 2025 Ladies European Tour, ended up 11 shots behind eventual champion South Korea’s Ryu Hae-ran (71), who prevailed in a play-off with Brooke Henderson (64) of Canada for her second straight Major win after claiming the Women’s PGA Championship.

With this being her third time playing at the tournament, Tan noted that she felt more comfortable coming back as compared to the first time she played it in 2024, which was also her Major debut.

Her performance this week has given her confidence heading into the final Major of 2026 – the July 30-Aug 2 Women’s British Open.

She said: “It’s a completely different test with links golf, so the preparation will be different, but I’ve got a few weeks to work on the parts of my game that will be important for that challenge.

“Hopefully I can keep building on the positives from this week, continue improving and put myself in another good position at the final Major of the year.”

Ryu, who birdied the first extra hole to secure victory and US$1.4 million (S$1.8 million) winner’s cheque, said in her TV interview: “This is just a dream right now because before the three weeks, I didn’t have a Major championship, but now I have two in a row. I’m so happy and I can’t believe it.”

Victory also meant that she has joined Park In-bee and Ko Jin-young in becoming only the third player from South Korea to win two Majors in a single season.

The 25-year-old had carded a spectacular 60 in the third round for an overnight three-shot lead. It was a record-low round at the Evian Championship and the lowest in any of the five women’s Majors since the USLPGA started tracking rounds of 60.

She held a five-shot lead early in the final round, but that slowly evaporated as Henderson eagled the par-five seventh and made a hole-in-one in the par-three eighth to reach 17 under.

Ryu, who started with seven straight pars, bogeyed the eighth hole to fall to 18 under.

Akie Iwai of Japan also caught up and went level with the South Korean at the top going into the final hole, with Henderson one stroke behind.

After Ryu made her birdie putt – the world No. 7’s first birdie of the final round – and Iwai missed hers, Henderson sank her eagle attempt to force the play-off.

While the Canadian was disappointed that she lost, the world No. 20 could take heart from a strong showing in the final round, which saw her register three eagles.

The 28-year-old said: “Yeah, played awesome today, which is really exciting. To finish second in a Major and third a couple weeks ago (at the Women’s PGA Championship), definitely game is in a really good spot.

“Obviously very exciting to get into the play-off. Wish I had played a little bit better, but Hae-ran has been playing great. Congrats to her.”