BIANCA Pagdanganan fired a second straight 69 yesterday (Sunday in the US) and was tied for 36th place with seven others with a round to go in the Pelican Women’s Golf Championship at the Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida.
With the tournament reduced to 54 holes after Hurricane Nicole swept through the Florida coast, Pagdanganan relied on her short game to post her second straight sub-par score over the par-70, 6,268-yard course.
The 2019 30th Southeast Asian Games double gold medalist was eight shots behind Hawaiian-American rookie Allisen Corpuz, who continued to wax hot with her second 65 in a row to cling to a one-stroke lead at 130 over Swede Maja Stark (68-63).
She had some struggles with her drives and approaches, hitting eight of just 14 fairways and reaching 12 of 18 greens in regulation.
Pagdanganan managed to stay afloat with her putting touch around the green with birdies on hole Nos. 6, 15 and 18 to offset bogeys on Nos. 5 and 17, needing just 28 putts to complete her round.
The Tokyo Olympic Games veteran needs a strong performance in the rain-shortened $7 million to retain tour card since only the top 80 golfers at the end of the 2022 season will get priority for next year.
