Tiffany Chan finishes in joint 10th place in Taiwan in last pro event before Olympics

Rio-bound amateur Tiffany Chan Tsz-ching finished her last professional tournament before next month’s Olympic Games in a share of 10th place after a roller-coaster final round at the Chungyuet Group Ladies Open in Taiwan.

The 22-year-old, who finished in 56th spot in the Olympic standings to secure her starting berth in Brazil, which sees golf’s return to the Summer Games for the first time since 1904, fired a closing 73 in windy conditions to finish just three shots shy of a six-way play-off, which was eventually won by Thailand’s Nattagate Nimitpongkul

The University of Southern California student got off to the worst possible start with a double bogey after four-putting the first, but got her round back on track with three successive front-nine birdies. Further birdies at the 13th and 16th thrust her into title contention, but another double, at the par-3 17th where she three-putted from short distance, ended her chances.

“I made five birdies today, so that was a positive, but the two holes where I made double were just stupid,” said Chan, who is number 15 in the world amateur golf ranking. “I didn’t really know my position in the tournament – I wasn’t expecting the leaders to come back as much as they did – so the mistake at the end there [at the 17th] was a bit annoying.”

Chan, who will make her debut in the US Women’s Amateur at the Rolling Green Golf Club in Pennsylvania in the first week of August before joining the rest of the Hong Kong Olympic team in Rio, said she was looking forward to taking a break before flying off to the United States at the end of next week.

“I’ll still work out and practise my game, but I’m looking forward to having a bit of a rest over the next few days, taking things easier and recharging my batteries,” added the former Diocesan Girls’ School student.