Shannon Tan is looking forward to being back in familiar territory this week as she prepares to tee it up at the Australian Women’s Classic.
The Singaporean star calls Australia her second home having lived on the Gold Coast for three years and is comfortable with the style of golf course.
After playing in the HSBC Women’s World Championship at home in Singapore on the LPGA, Tan flew into Brisbane before Cyclone Alfred hit and drove down to Coffs Harbour in preparation for this week’s tournament.
It was a special experience for the 20-year-old to tee it up on home soil on the LPGA for the first time especially as she watched the tournament when she was younger and volunteered there in 2017.
“I had Thursday off and on Friday, I just went to the gym to get the body moving,” she said. “Over the weekend, I stayed in the house and putted in the house and tried to make the best out of the situation. I needed some time off after Singapore because it was quite hectic for me.
“I had always watched that event and then volunteered there in 2017, when I was there watching I always thought I want to be there one day. The event itself, I had a lot of friends and home crowds come out and support me. I like playing in front of crowds now.
“Overall, finishing in the middle of the pack at that LPGA event was decent. I was quite close to being in the top 10, it was just a few shots here and there. Playing with the LPGA players, off the tee and iron play we were quite similar, so it’s just the short game and putting that’s the difference – they take a lot of chances within eight feet.”
Tan had a strong start to the 2025 Ladies European Tour (LET) season finishing in third place at the Lalla Meryem Cup and T39 at the PIF Saudi Ladies International.
The Olympian, who won the 2024 Magical Kenya Ladies Open, is finding her feet in her second year on Tour and has taken some advice from Australian Major winner Hannah Green.
She continued: “Honestly, there is a big difference as last year I didn’t know what worked best for travel, schedules, routines and how many events in a row you can play etc. This year, I know more of what to expect from myself so I will do four events in a row maximum, and three if it involves long flights.
“I played 29 events last year and got quite burned out at a couple, so I think it will be 23 this year would be a good number. Planning my schedule I know that I can get into pretty much every event this year, so there is more freedom.
“Learning from last year, knowing not to burnout and that it’s quite important to take time off. I’ve also spoken to Hannah Green because we share the same coach, she is really nice in giving advice and her experience on scheduling and how many events to play.”
Following the impact of Cyclone Alfred, this week’s Australian Women’s Classic was reduced to 54-holes with the tournament due to start on Friday at Coffs Harbour Golf Club.
Over the off-season, Tan reflected on her stats from 2024 and decided to work on her short game and continue to improve her putting.
“I worked on some stuff in the off-season, looked at my stats from last year,” she continued. “My up-and-downs I was at 35% and that should be at 50%. I touched up some stuff in the swing.
“But I’m focussing on my short game because I make bogeys on and off but it’s more common when I miss the green, so I’m trying to get that part of the game brushed up.
“Putting is something I have always worked on for a long time, at the start of last year I worked on pace-putting so that’s got better, but short putts of five to 15 feet especially I need to work on.”
Having had a good start to the year, Tan sits fifth in the 2025 LET Order of Merit but is managing her expectations for this season.
She added: “It would be nice to get a second win, but if I just do what I can and control what I can control then it should come at some point.
“In Morocco, I felt like I played pretty well, and I can’t control how the others play. If I’m happy with how I’ve played, then that’s all I can do, and I will just keep trusting the process.”
Tan will begin her title tilt on Friday afternoon at 2.05 pm (local time) alongside Belgium’s Manon De Roey and France’s Perrine Delacour.
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