DISPLAYING remarkable resiliency, Bianca Pagdanganan overcame a double bogey on the opening hole yesterday (Saturday in the US) to fire a 69 and forge a five-way tie for 19th in the penultimate round of the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give in Belmont, Michigan.
Pagdanganan, who had an opening round 71 and an eagle-aided 68 in the next, shrugged off a double bogey on the par-five No. 1 and gamely battled her way back the rest of the way with six birdies and one bogey on the par-72, 6,638-yard Blythefield Country Club course.
The 2019 Southeast Asian Games double gold medalist was at her best on the back nine, kicking off with back-to-back birdies then adding two more on hole Nos. 16 and 18 for a three-round score of 208.
She stood 11 shots behind pacesetting Australian Grace Kim, who blitzed four the of the last six holes with birdies for a 66-199 in taking a five-stroke lead over five others in pursuit of the top prize of $450,000 (about P26.337 million) in the 72-hole event.
Pagdanganan hit eight of 13 fairway and 12 of 18 greens in regulation while having the lowest number of putts at 27.
A high finish in the tournament will likely tighten her hold on a ticket to the Paris Olympic Games next month, being currently at No. 35 in the International Golf Federation Olympic women’s ratings where the top 60 on the June 27 cut-off date will be eligible to play in the French capital.
