BIANCA Pagdanganan persevered yesterday (Saturday in the US), averting what could have been an early meltdown to shoot a 69 and a seven-way tie for 24th with a round to go in the The Anikka Driven by Gainbridge at the Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida.
Pagdanganan had five bogeys from the fourth to the 10th holes but righted the ship, sinking successive birdies from the 12th to the 14th before winding up with a fifth one on the 18th over the par-70, 6,349-yard layout as she sustained her bid to keep her hard-earned US LPGA tour card.
Her three-round score of 206 pushed her to 97th in the Race to CME Globe ratings, within the top 100 eligible golfers of retaining their tour card should she keep things up entering the final round in the penultimate leg of the tour.
Pagdanganan stood eight shots behind pacesetting Englishwoman Charley Hull, who had 68-198 and a slim one-stroke lead over Chinese Zhang Weiwei and top-ranked American Nelly Korda in the chase for the championship and purse of $487,500 (roughly P28.6 million) to the winner.
Achieving consistency and stability in her game has been the bane of Pagdanganan, who was at her best with a 67 in the second round that began with three birdies in a row on the front nine and an eagle on the par 5 seventh hole.
But when things seemed to be looking smoothly, the Filipina fumbled with back-to-back bogeys on holes No. 10 and No. 11 plus a third on No. 17 after a birdie on the previous hole.
While she hit 12 of 14 fairways, Pagdanganan had problems around the green, reaching just 13 in regulation in the third round.