Singapore’s Shannon Tan clinches historic Asian Games golf bronze

NAGOYA: Shannon Tan became the first Singaporean golfer to clinch an Asian Games medal on Saturday (Oct 3), taking bronze in the women’s individual event.

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.

She finished one stroke behind India’s world number 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 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 had a string of four birdies in five holes to go 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 stellar 2025, winning two events on the Ladies European Tour (LET) and the LET Order of Merit.

This season, she has amassed five top-10 finishes at LET events. 

These include 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.