WACO, Texas – Baylor women’s golf head coach Jay Goble announced the signing of Cheerie Tan to a National Letter of Intent on Tuesday. A product of Melbourne, Australia, Tan will enroll in the fall and have four years of eligibility starting with the 2016-17 season.
“We are very pleased and excited for Cheerie to join our team this fall,” Goble said. “She’s a very talented player who is eager to come to the state and compete on this level. We love her attitude and maturity, and we believe she’s going to be a big part of our future success.”
Tan was selected to play for the Victorian Girls Team in the 2015 Australian Girls Interstate Series Matches. The Vics entered the tournament ranked fifth out of five teams, but with wins in all four of her matches, Tan led the team to its first Interstate Series title since 2007.
Tan bested Western Australia’s Maddison Tolchard, 1-up in the first round and knocked off South Australia’s Jin-Young Yun, 1-up in the second round to stake the Vics to an early 2-0 lead. Tan sank an albatross on the 16th hole of her match against Yun, taking a 1-up lead, and she finished with a birdie on No. 18 to win the match.
Tan then defeated New South Wales’ Amelia Mehmet-Grohn, 2-and-1 in the third round, and then clinched the tournament title by defeating Queensland’s Kirsty Hodkins, 3-and-2 in the fourth round.
Tan joins Evelyn Arugelles (Oaxtepac, Mexico), Chloe Caron (Bondues, France), Fiona Liddell (Ennigerloh, Germany) and Amy Lee (Orange County, Calif./USC) to give Baylor five members of its 2016-17 recruiting class. Lee, a transfer from USC, will enroll as a junior and has two years of remaining eligibility, while the four additional players in the 2016-17 class will begin their collegiate careers at Baylor.
Baylor returns four letterwinners from its 2015-16 team. The Bears are led by All-American Dylan Kim, who is back for her redshirt sophomore season after missing all but one tournament last season. She’s joined by senior Maggie Beth Byers, junior Giovana Maymon and sophomore Maria Vesga. Additionally, sophomore Mills Chenot returns after playing in one tournament during her debut season.
Baylor will open its 2016-17 season on Sept. 12 at the Dick McGuire Invitational.
