Singapore golfer Shannon Tan slips to second, remains in the hunt for Asiad medal

NAGOYA – The stakes could not be higher for Shannon Tan on Oct 3, when she tees off in the final round of the women’s individual event in a bid for a historic Asian Games medal for Singapore.

On Oct 2, the 22-year-old carded three bogeys and four birdies for a one-over 71 at the Kasugai Country Club East Course to see her two-shot lead at the halfway mark evaporate.

After making a poor start with three bogeys on her first 10 holes, she went on a birdie run from the No. 11 to 13 but dropped another shot at the 14th hole for a 12-under 198 total.

India’s Pranavi Sharath Urs seized on the opportunity to leapfrog Tan and move three shots ahead with a four-under 66 and 15-under 196 total. China’s 2023 Women’s PGA Championship winner Yin Ruoning also shot a 66 and was third on a three-round 199 score.

While Tan, who led after the first two rounds, ceded top spot to the red-hot Indian, she remains on track to write her name into Singapore’s history books.

Team Singapore’s medal chances in the women’s team event took a hit on Oct 2, when Chen Xingtong and Amanda Tan signed off their third round with an eight-over 78 and 75 respectively to tie for 26th with similar 10-over 220 totals.

As the team event uses the scores of the two lowest-scoring golfers, the Republic fell out of the medal spots as the trio dropped from second to fifth with a five-under 415, 10 strokes behind leaders China.

In the men’s individual competition, Hiroshi Tai shot an eagle, two birdies, a bogey and a double-bogey for a one-under 69 in Round 3. He climbed to joint-19th with a one-under 209 total, 11 strokes behind South Korean leader Kim Joo-hyung.

Fellow Singaporean James Leow mixed six birdies with three bogeys for a three-under 67 and two-over 212 total to improve to joint-26th.

Along with teammate Nicklaus Chiam, who missed the halfway cut, the Singaporean trio are 10th in the men’s team event with a one-over 421 total, 21 shots behind leaders South Korea.

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