After an early two-horse race in the 2026 Ladies European Tour (LET) Order of Merit, the battle to crown the circuit’s number one player is now wide as we head into the second half of the season with several players closing the gap on South Africa’s Casandra Alexander.
One star who has entered the mix after a strong summer is Singapore’s Shannon Tan, winner of last year’s Order of Merit. The 22-year-old finished runner-up at the Jabra Ladies Open de France at the end of May and followed this up with a T16 on the same course at The Amundi Evian Championship.
A few weeks later Tan bettered her best finish at a Major again placing T6 at the AIG Women’s Open. The Olympian would then fire a final round 64 (-9) at last week’s PIF London Championship to end the tournament in third position as close friend Anna Huang claimed victory over home favourite Charley Hull.
“I knew I was 12 shots back [before the start of play] so had nothing to lose,” Tan said on the finish. “I just went for it. But seeing Anna [Huang] win again was great. Especially how she finished with another eagle. She’s so confident at the moment and it’s definitely something I admire.”
It is a rich run of form which has catapulted Tan into seventh on the Order of Merit following a slow start to the season by her own high standards. Retaining her Order of Merit crown is now back on the radar as Tan tees up at the VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open this week as the tournament’s highest ranked player (the Singaporean sits 56th in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings).
“Winning it is definitely on my mind again,” the Singaporean said. “I think in April, May and June, I was just focused on the Majors. I planned my schedule according to that and skipped a few events. Now Major season is over, the focus is finishing as high as possible on the Order of Merit. I’m just over 800 points away [from Alexander] so a win this week and good finish in Ireland puts me right up there. It is possible.
Tan’s 64 (-9) on Sunday an Centurion Club was her lowest scorecard to date on the LET. Having won three times on the circuit, first in February 2024 on her professional debut at the Magical Kenya Ladies Open and twice more in 2025 at the Amundi German Masters and Hero Women’s Indian Open, Tan now believes she is playing better golf than ever before.
“This [run of form] is probably the best I’ve ever played,” she explained. “I would say I’ve gotten a lot better at navigating the Majors and am even more experienced now. I’ve increased my clubhead speed too. I’m more confident and hitting more shots and playing in different conditions. I’m playing great I just need to put four good rounds together. That will be the key to winning again. You show up to every event wanting to win and knowing it’s possible to win.”
As for this week, Tan is competing at the VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open for the very first time in her career. Golfpark Holzhäusern demands precision off the tee which will suit the Singaporean who now leads driving accuracy once again with an impressive 84.73%.
She tees up as the tournament favourite and will play alongside 2024 and 2025 champion Alice Hewson across rounds one and two as her English friend chases a historic hat-trick.
On the challenge ahead, Tan said: “I’ve actually been to Zurich four of five times but have never played golf in Switzerland before. You have to be smart off the tee here and place yourself really well. It’s not a course where you can just hit it as hard as you can. It’s quite slopey too so you’ll need to be smart. It’s a course which suits me and I’m feeling confident.”
Tan gets underway at 13:28 local time on Thursday at the 2026 VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open playing alongside Hewson and Austria’s Emma Spitz. Watch live and keep up to date with the tournament on our socials: @LETgolf on Instagram and X and Ladies European Tour on Facebook and YouTube – #SwissLadiesOpen.
