Resilient Shannon Resets After Shock Shank

Lytham, England: Occasionally, a nasty shock to the system can provide a positive jolt. Shannon Tan can attest to that.

On the par-four eighth hole in the opening round of the AIG Women’s Open, the Singaporean suffered a horrible moment. Out of the blue, Tan inadvertently executed the most dreaded shot in golf – a shank, the mere mention of which is enough to make any golfer shudder. 

“It was straight off the hosel – the first time I’ve done that. I didn’t know what happened and I think I was quite shocked for a bit. I mean, the next shot … all I can do is try and make contact with the ball and just try and get it out on short grass,” reflected Tan, who might easily have been spooked and caved in. In the event, she did well to compose herself sufficiently to salvage a six. 

“I think a double (bogey) from where I was … I would take it. It’s a par basically from where I was (after the shank). From then on, I just kind of reset and did pretty decent,” added Tan, the finest female golfer Singapore has produced.

It’s testament to Tan’s mental fortitude and prodigious talent that she was able to put that aberration behind her and post a two-under-par 69 that left her in a share of sixth place after the first day at Royal Lytham & St Annes. 

Buoyed by that show of strength, she set off in style in round two, picking up shots at the first two holes to move within three strokes of the lead. For much of the day, she featured on the first page of the leaderboard and even managed to steal some of the live television time from the afternoon marquee group of Nelly Korda, Ryu Hae-ran and Lydia Ko.

With the winds whipping up, Tan dropped late shots, a double-bogey six at the 15th, the toughest hole on the famed Lancashire links, and a bogey at 18.

It all added up to a second-day three-over 74 that means she’ll head into Saturday’s penultimate round in joint 25th place on one-over 143. That’s eight shots behind pace-setting Korean Ryu, who’s half-way to what would be an astonishing feat of winning three successive Major championships.

Nonetheless, Tan, in what is just her third year on Tour, is clearly becoming accustomed – and comfortable – with crossing swords with the finest female golfers in the world. Winner of last year’s Ladies European Tour Order of Merit, she shows no signs of an inferiority complex. 

She said: “I definitely feel I’m ready to contend. I’ve played in a few Majors now and seen how my game compared to everyone else – and I think my game is up there. I just think I need a little more experience and learning more about what to do in different scenarios on the course.

“Looking at my results in Majors, I’ve pretty much improved after every start in a Major. So, it’s definitely trending the right way. I’m just trying to keep finding like little bits and pieces in my game to work on.”

The main area she has identified is her short-range putting.

She said: “I want to try and get my putting stats better. I’m decent from 10 to 15 feet. My lag putting has also got a lot better this year. I think it’s been pretty good.

“But inside six feet, that needs to get better. Inside six to eight feet needs to get better, so that’s one of my goals.”

Regardless how she fares over the weekend here, Tan will be able to reflect on the remarkable rise to prominence she’s enjoyed since relinquishing her amateur status shortly after representing the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation in the 2023 edition of the Solheim Cup-style Patsy Hankins Trophy in Spain, when England’s Lottie Woad was a member of the European team.

Tan said: “First of all, I went to Q-School just to get experience and see what Q-School was like. I got my card, which was a surprise. And then I won my first event on the LET, so that was a surprise as well.

“One of the things that helped me do this is that I just go in and focus on myself and just see what I can do. I do my best and the results will come.

“I would probably say I didn’t really expect the results (I’ve had). I look at things quite small, like small goals, little things in my game instead of big picture.

“In some ways, it’s trending quite quick, but at the same time I think it’s from the work I’ve put in.”