The golfer tells us about the challenges of touring, the importance of meditation and her new-found love of writing as a pre-match routine
I am Generation T is a series of quick-fire Q&As with some of the extraordinary individuals on the Gen.T List.
Sporting stars are pretty thin on the ground in Hong Kong, but Tiffany Chan has been busy putting the city on the golfing map. Originally from the city's Tuen Mun district, she rose to success locally before transferring to the big league in the US.
She represented Hong Kong in the World Amateur Team Championship in 2010, 2012 and 2014, and in the Asian Games in 2010 and 2014, before going on to compete in the 2016 Olympics. After receiving a scholarship to Daytona State College in the US, she was twice the National Junior College Athletic Association champion. She won the Hong Kong Ladies Open in 2016 as an amateur, turning professional in 2017. In 2017 she was runner-up at the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament, meaning that she qualified for the 2018 LPGA Tour, becoming the first ever Hong Kong golfer to qualify for the top-level competition.
Tiffany was recently in Hong Kong to compete in the EFG Hong Kong Ladies Open, finishing tied for fifth and the top-ranked Hong Kong player. We took the opportunity to ask her about the hurdles she’s faced, the sacrifices she’s made, the importance of persistence and the need to work on being happy.
When did you know you wanted to be a golfer?
I wanted to be a professional golfer when I was 16 or 17—it wasn’t like I thought I could do it, but I wanted to. I was in the Hong Kong team for roughly eight years. We had some good results but weren’t consistent at all. No one ever thought Hong Kong could produce a professional golfer.
What’s the hardest thing about being on tour?
Travelling, and managing how you mentally and physically prepare. The physical part is one of the toughest: you have to fly, rent a car, book your own stuff, and you need to spend time on it. And then you have to play well.