SINGAPORE – Singaporean golfer Shannon Tan is proud to end her season with a “special” achievement after adding the Order of Merit (OOM) title on the Ladies European Tour (LET) to her resume on Nov 30.
“It means a lot to me personally. When I started the season, I wasn’t focused on chasing the Order of Merit, my goal was simply to keep improving and put myself in contention more often,” said the 21-year-old, after emerging from a tight battle with Britain’s Mimi Rhodes to decide the season’s best player on the tour.
“So to end the year this way is really special. Being the first Singaporean to achieve this makes it even more meaningful.
“I’m proud to represent Singapore on this stage and I hope it shows young players back home that it’s possible to dream big with hard work, belief and the right support.
“If this inspires even one more junior golfer to pick up a club, that would be amazing.”
Singapore Golf Association chief executive Joshua Ho said: “We are delighted to extend our congratulations to Shannon… It has been a fabulous weekend for Singapore golf with James Leow securing his breakthrough on the Asian Development Tour and Shannon now winning the season-long Order of Merit in Europe.”
“We are confident such achievements by our Singaporean golfers will continue to inspire and raise the popularity of golf in Singapore.”
Going into the final tournament of the season, Tan had led her rival by 219.26 points in the OOM race. Rhodes needed to beat the Singaporean and finish in the top three to have a chance of winning the title.
The battle went down to the wire at the Andalucia Costa del Sol Open at the Real Guadalhorce Golf Club in Malaga on Nov 30, with Tan shooting a one-over 73 to end tied-16th with a seven-under 281 after four rounds.
