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

NAGOYA – With the sun out in Nagoya, an in-form Shannon Tan continued to shine on the golf course on Sept 30, when she topped the leaderboard at the Asian Games after the first of four rounds to raise hopes of a historic Asiad medal for Singapore.

At the Kasugai Country Club East Course, the 22-year-old shot 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 64 were 2023 Women’s PGA Championship winner Yin Ruoning of China, Filipina Isabel Pagdanganan, Chinese Taipei’s Hsu Wei-ling and Thailand’s Arpichaya Yubol.

Tan got off to a good start on the front nine, mixing three birdies against one bogey before going on a blitz in the back nine with five more birdies against another bogey.

Teammate Chen Xingtong, 17, posted a one-under 69 to place joint-ninth after Round 1.

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

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, as she 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.

In the men’s individual stroke play event that teed off earlier at 6.30am, 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 Zheng Yuhe 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 is tied for 40th with two others after a 75.

Their combined score of 142 placed then joint-11th with Thailand, 11 strokes behind leaders Japan. South Korea and China were tied on second on 133.

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David Lee is senior sports correspondent at The Straits Times, focusing on aquatics, badminton, basketball, cue sports, football and table tennis.