S’pore’s Shannon Tan leads Asian Games individual golf standings after Round 1

NAGOYA – The sun was out in Nagoya on Sept 30, and Shannon Tan took its cue on the golf course, displaying red-hot form as she stormed to the top of the leaderboard at the Asian Games after the first round to raise hopes of a historic medal for Singapore.

At the Kasugai Country Club East Course, the 22-year-old fired a seven-under 63 to rank first out of 44 players, with India’s Pranavi Sharath Urs three strokes behind on 66.

Among the four players tied for third on 67 were 2023 Women’s PGA Championship winner Yin Ruoning of China, Filipina Bianca Pagdanganan, Chinese Taipei’s Hsu Wei-ling and Thailand’s Arpichaya Yubol.

Said Tan: “It was a decent first day, ball-striking was good, and putting was decent. Overall, a pretty solid round, but I still felt like I left a couple of shots out there.

“It’s only the first day, and there are three more rounds to go. It’s nice for Team Singapore to be in this position but there’s a lot more golf to be played. I’m just going to take the positives from today, reset, and focus on the next round.”

Tan got off to a good start on the front nine, mixing four birdies against one bogey, and she did not let up in the back nine, posting five more birdies and a bogey.

Teammate Chen Xingtong, 17, posted a one-under 69 to place joint-ninth after Round 1. Amanda Tan was joint-24th after carding a two-over 72.

Together, Shannon and Chen also lead the women’s team event with a combined score of 132, four shots ahead of South Korea, China, Chinese Taipei and Thailand.

Before the tournament started, Tan had said: “An individual medal is something you naturally focus on because you have more control over your own performance. But being able to contribute to a team medal would be really special too.

“Golf is such an individual sport so I’m used to focusing on my own game, processes and score, taking it one shot at a time. But having teammates there... It’s nice to have people around you who are going through the same experience, where we can encourage each other, learn from each other and hopefully enjoy the week together.”

Since turning pro in 2024, Tan has consistently shown she belongs among women’s golf elite.

After becoming the first Singaporean to earn a Ladies European Tour (LET) card that year, she won the Magical Kenya Ladies Open on her LET debut and also became the first golfer from the Republic to play at the Paris 2024 Olympics. 

In 2025, she became the first Singaporean to win the LET Order of Merit title and also surpassed $1 million in career earnings.

In August 2026, she tied for sixth place at the Women’s British Open for the best finish by a Singaporean at a golf major.

Tan added: “I’ve been fortunate to win three times on (the Ladies European) Tour, and every time I’ve done that, I’ve still been representing Singapore and flying the Singapore flag on the international stage and leaderboard.

“The Asian Games only come around every four years so obviously it would be a very special achievement to win a medal here, but I think both (winning on tour and at a major Games) would mean a lot for different reasons.”

In the men’s individual stroke play event that teed off earlier in the morning, Taiwanese Wang Wei-hsuan and Japan’s Kazuki Higa were tied at the top after the first round with a five-under 65. India’s Saptak Talwar, South Korea’s Mun Do-yeob, China’s Sampson Zheng and Keita Nakajima of Japan were in a four-way tie for third on 66.

Singapore’s Hiroshi Tai finished in a five-way tie for 18th place with an even-par 70, while teammate James Leow was two strokes back in joint-29th with three other players. Nicklaus Chiam was tied for 40th with two others after a 75.

Using the best two scores, Tai and Leow’s mix of 142 placed them joint-11th in the team event with Thailand, 11 strokes behind leaders Japan. South Korea and China were tied on second on 133.