Tan stays sharp on local golf courses
LPGA Tour pro and Malaysian expatriate knocked off course by COVID pandemic
Whenever the LPGA Tour returns to action, Kelly Tan hopes to be riding a lengthy winning streak.
Born and raised in Malaysia, Tan now considers Calgary her second home. As she waits out the COVID -19 pandemic, the 26-yearold has tried to stay sharp by competing head-to-head against her boyfriend.
“Dusty is a pretty good golfer, so we’ll usually have games between us,” Tan said. “He keeps me on my toes most of the time but hopefully he’s not beating me, because I won’t hear the end of it.”
Tan’s significant other is a member at Hamptons Golf Club.
Bearspaw has become another regular hangout. In fact, Tan notched a hole-in-one — the eighth ace of her career — early in the season at the semi-private setup, smoothing her 6-iron from 175 yards away on No. 15 (Dusty didn’t win that hole).
“Those courses are good for practice because they’re not just hit it as hard as you can and hit it anywhere you want,” Tan said. “The greens are really difficult at the Hamptons and it’s really quite long and narrow at Bearspaw, so that’s a good combination of courses for me to practise at.
“And I try to put myself in that position to feel that rush, right? I usually play games with the people that I play with to make sure that I can’t be off my game. I have to be on top of it.”
The LPGA Tour, off its game for the past 2½ months due to the global health crisis, has targeted mid-july for its restart. They’ve already announced all full-time members will retain their cards through the end of 2021.
Tan, now back at the top level after graduating from the second-tier Symetra Tour, has been spending the downtime in Calgary, including six weeks without a swing as she waited for the weather to smarten up.
“I’ve played professional golf for seven years and I’ve never, ever in my life had this many weeks sitting in the same spot,” Tan said. “Even in the off-season, we go back to Malaysia or come back to Calgary, so we’re never settled that long. It’s been kind of nice in that sense to be settled and not travel and be sleeping in my bed.
“I mean, there’s nothing I can do and there’s nothing the tour can do. I think they’re just making the best decisions for all the players and the staff and spectators. So I’m just taking this opportunity to hang out with my family. It’s something I don’t get to do too often, and it’s been really nice.”
Then again, one thing that Tan misses is her extended family.
She’s totalled 72 starts on the LPGA Tour — her best finish so far is a T-4 at the 2014 Marathon Classic — and has made a lot of close friends at the annual stops.
“The LPGA Tour has a host family program, and I usually stay with a host family because it helps me save money travelling on tour,” Tan said. “So I’ve had a family in every city, pretty much, and I miss those people. I really miss seeing those families that I have stayed with the last few years.
“And obviously I miss competing, as well, and seeing those little kids at the back of the 18th green and they just want a signed ball or a photo. Stuff like that is fun. But I’m sure we’ll get back to that soon.”
One tournament that Tan has unfortunately had to scratch from her summer calendar is the Olympics, with Tokyo 2020 postponed until 2021.
She represented Malaysia as women’s golf debuted at the fivering circus in 2016 in Rio and would have been competing on behalf of her country once again.
“As a professional golfer, you don’t really wake up and be like, ‘I want to be an Olympian one day.’ It was just something that happened in my career,” Tan said. “But I’m really glad that they decided to put golf in the Olympics, because I think it’s a great sport.
“And it was so much fun. Malaysia, I think in 2016 in Rio, we only had about 33 athletes. It was a really nice-sized family, to hang out with the greatest athletes from my country. Being able to stay at the Olympic Village was really cool. It’s just a different environment — I don’t really even know how to explain it, but I would love to be living with the best athletes in the world every day. You are just so motivated. Every day you wake up, you see people running and you see people working out with their coach. It’s just really cool.”
With her trophy chase currently on pause, Tan is now motivated to maintain bragging rights over her boyfriend. Hopefully, that will have her ready to trade birdies with the big names when the LPGA Tour returns to action.
Certainly, a lot of folks in Calgary will be rooting for her. This has been her off-week hangout for the past five years or so.
“I definitely feel like this is my second home,” Tan said. “I love Calgary as a city. I have met a lot of cool people, and they definitely treat me nice. I just love it out here.”
I’m just taking this opportunity to hang out with my family. It’s something I don’t get to do too often