CHASKA, Minn. – Call it a combination ripe for a discovery. A golf club, Hazeltine National, with an expansive 300-plus acres, and a tournament, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, replete with eclectic personalities at a time when the global pool of women’s golf talent is deeper than ever.
Surely someone you’d never heard of would make some noise and pique your curiosity.
Which is what happened when a 22-year-old from Singapore, Shannon Tan, aced the par-3 fourth in Round 2. She would shoot a second straight level-par 72 that day, comfortably make the cut, and go on to weekend rounds of 71-73 to finish T-32.
Sufficiently intrigued, onward went the internet searches and my rabbit-hole visits were rewarded with information that tickled my fancy. Given that she was born and raised and still makes her home in Singapore, it surprised me not in the least to confirm via email that Peter Teravainen was very much in tune with this young golfer and gushed about Shannon’s talents.
“Shannon has been tremendously successful. She is a big deal back here in Singapore,” said Teravainen, owner of one of the richest golf careers my journey has intersected with.
Born and raised on Boston’s South Shore, he matriculated at Yale, played golf at high levels in college and on the junior/amateur scenes, then chased the PGA Tour until he found his sweet spot – the European Tour. He swung hard, hit it long, and totally cherished the eclectic life that was the European Tour in the 1980s and ‘90s, not to mention his time in Japan and elsewhere in Asia.
That he was a central character in Michael Bamberger’s classic book, "To the Linksland," endeared me to him forever, and it’s a tribute to his passion for golf that the winner of the 1995 Czech Open and 1996 Japan Open still commands an audience when there are young golfers in that part of the world who need support.
“I know he knows what he’s talking about. So when he had great things to say about Shannon, I listened,” said JoJo Robertson, head women’s golf coach at Texas Tech.
“I followed Shannon’s scores (from afar) and what impressed me is that she was winning tournaments by seven, eight, nine shots. She was so consistent.”
It was the 2020-21 stretch when everything was upside down thanks to COVID and so Robertson – like so many of her colleagues – put their faith in international recruiting on videos and personal endorsements.
Teravainen’s meant a lot – and, oh, how Robertson’s trust in this unique recruitment process was met with wonderful results.
“Golf is her life. It’s what she was meant to do,” said Robertson.
Thus far, at the heart of the story is how Shannon Tan is taking complete ownership of her golf future, traveling the world, and blazing a trail of impressive success. That she traveled from Singapore in the fall of 2022, quickly adapted to a different culture, and had a productive freshman year should not be overlooked.
“She was so determined,” said Robertson.
The results in 2022-23 confirm the coach’s assessment, because Tan recorded five top 10s, was 13th in the Big 12 Championship, fourth in the NCAA Regional, and helped the Red Raiders reach the NCAA Championship.
So much promise was percolating and Shannon Tan, then 19, continued in a marvelous way. In the summer of 2023 she created history by winning Singapore Women’s Masters and a photo of her with three trophies splashed across Singapore newspapers. She was the winner, low amateur, and the first Singapore amateur to win this China LPGA Tournament.
"We are immensely proud of the courage she has shown in following her passion and committing herself fully to the sport she loves," said her father, Desmond.
Robertson, understandably, was thrilled for what was on the horizon for Texas Tech in the 2023-24 season, and when Tan was T-2 at the Jim West Challenge in San Marcos, Texas, in the fall, the excitement was validated. Young Shannon Tan was simply playing beautifully.
But here, the story took a turn. It was a turn, let’s be honest, that is quite common at this level of elite athleticism – Tan told coach Robertson she was going to leave school and turn professional.
The opening came by virtue of Shannon Tan’s high finish in the Ladies European Tour Q-School in the fall. She had kept her coach informed, told her she’d see where she finished, then figure out where she stood. Shannon decided to take the card for 2024 and play for pay on the LET. Robertson handled it all with total class.
“I mean she was our best player, I wanted her to stay, to be honest,” said the Texas Tech coach. “But she did what she needed to do and when she won her LET debut, she was off and running.”
Since turning pro, Tan has won three times on the LET and represented Singapore at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. When she finished first on the Order of Merit in 2025 it earned her exemptions into four of the five LPGA majors in 2026. Tan has acquitted herself nicely in the first two – T-38 in the Chevron and T-32 in the recent KPMG – and has this week’s Evian and the upcoming AIG Women’s Open are still on her dance card.
Throw in the fact that she was T-66 in the Aramco Championship in Las Vegas earlier this year (the tournament is co-sponsored by the LET) and it’s further proof that Shannon Tan is gaining experience by the day.
First thing she told herself was to improve her ball flight.
Shannon Tan accepts her LET Order of Merit honor in 2025.
“I used to hit it quite low, but I’ve learned that I have to carry it further in the U.S.,” said Tan, who moved to Australia at age 7 for school and golf lessons with Ryan Lumsden, a Scottish native who has taught in Australia since 2003.
She has returned to make her home in Singapore, but here is where we introduce something that stands out about this young woman. On a landscape where it is quite common for young players on the LPGA to have their parents, especially the fathers, traveling and on site at every tournament, Tan impressively is quite determined to do things on her own.
Desmond Tan and his wife, Winnie Cheong, still reside in Singapore. He said that it was tough at first to let Shannon go so far from home to college, but they supported her decision to leave Texas Tech and travel on her own.
"What has made us proudest isn’t just the results, but the person she has become," said Desmond. "Watching her resilience, discipline, determination to improve every single day and how she’s grown on and off the course as a person.
It’s worth digesting this nugget – Shannon’s three wins have come in Kenya, Germany, and India, and her ports of call in 2026 have included Australia, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, France, Belgium, and three stops in the United States.
That’s a lot of travel, a lot of responsibility, a lot of ownership. It’s all quite unsurprising to Robertson, too, who has watched Shannon Tan come a long way from the 2022 Augusta National Women’s Amateur when she was the first Singaporean competitor in that prestigious tournament.
“I’ve met her parents and respect that they let Shannon do everything on her own. She doesn’t really rely on anyone’s help. I like that.
“My husband and I had Shannon stay with us (this past April when she was in the U.S. to play the Aramco and Chevron). There isn’t much waste of time with her; she’s always booking her travel, practicing, sticking pretty tight to a schedule.”
From where he sits, Teravainen applauds how it has all worked out thus far. “I must complement Desmond and his daughter for thinking out of the box,” said the onetime European Tour stalwart.
“Everyone goes to LPGA Tour for training every fall, but Shannon went to LET. I studied up on LET and liked what I read.”
Shannon Tan and her father both concede that the LPGA is the end goal and deep in the heart of Texas her biggest fan is rooting for that day to come.
“She’s pretty amazing,” said Robertson. “She’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever known, so humble, so respectful. I do think she made the right decision.”
