Singapore’s Shannon Tan takes historic Asian Games golf bronze

NAGOYA: There were mixed feelings for Singapore's Shannon Tan after clinching a historic Asian Games bronze on Saturday (Oct 3), becoming the first Singaporean golfer to win a medal at the Games.

While it was "special" to write her name into the history books, she had been gunning for gold in the women's individual event.

"Feels like I've been knocking on doors to win a title for quite a while. That's something that's always been on my mind," Tan told reporters. "I just want to try and win."

At the Kasugai Country Club East Course, world No 59 Tan finished with a 14-under 266 total after recording a final round two-under 68.

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She finished one stroke behind India’s world No 291 Pranavi Sharath Urs, who won gold, and tied with China’s world No 6 Yin Ruoning. In the silver-medal playoff, Yin beat Tan after one hole.

Tan said she was proud to have fought her way back into contention and to be one shot off the lead with two holes remaining.

"It's quite weird because for golf, we pretty much only play (off) for first, but at this event you have to play for second, so that felt a bit different going into it."

Tan led after the first two rounds, before Sharath Urs seized the lead on Friday, taking a two-stroke advantage.

On the final day of competition, former world number 1 and former Major winner Yin stormed into the lead early as Tan and Sharath Urs recorded a double bogey and triple bogey respectively on the front nine.

But Sharath Urs found her groove as Yin faltered. 

Tan produced a strong back nine, stringing together four birdies in five holes to move within one stroke of Sharath Urs, but the unheralded Indian showed remarkable grit to hold on for the win.

In the women’s team event, Singapore finished fourth, level with South Korea and Thailand. China won gold, India took silver, and Chinese Taipei claimed bronze.

For each 18-hole round, only the two lowest scores from each team count towards its total. The team with the lowest aggregate score after 72 holes wins.

In 2024, Tan became the first Singaporean golfer to compete at the Olympic Games. She followed that up with a standout 2025, winning two events on the Ladies European Tour (LET) and the LET Order of Merit.

This season, she has been in good form too. Tan recorded a joint sixth-place finish at the Women's British Open in early August and a third-place finish at the PIF London Championship a week later.

Singapore Golf Association president Lee Lung Nien described Tan's Games showing as "superb" and said that she is inspiring the next generation of golfers.

"It's quite special (to clinch a medal). Hopefully it shows other junior golfers and golfers back home that it's possible to excel in golf and do all these things in golf," Tan told reporters.

"It definitely means a lot. To do it for Singapore as well, and to get a medal for Singapore just means a lot to me."