AFTER struggling on the LPGA Tour for the last five months, two-time Olympian Bianca Pagdanganan hopes to get her act together and break out of a prolonged slump when she tees off today in the 71st KPMG Women’s Championship (Thursday in the US) at Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco in Frisco, Texas.
The meet where she had the best career outing in a golf major – finishing tied for ninth during her tour debut in the 2020 edition at the Arominink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania – might just be the tonic the power-hitting Pagdanganan needs to snap her funk.
The ICTSI-sponsored golfer will be among the 156 entries in the elite cast led by veteran South Korean defending champion Amy Yang, 35, who will chase the top prize of $2.4 million (roughly P137.722 million) over the par-72, 6,604-yard course that is now the new headquarters of the PGA of America.
The 2019 Southeast Asian Games double gold medalist had a rough stint in her sixth year on the LPGA circuit, making just two cuts in her past nine starts, her best performance being tied for 26th in the Mexico Riviera Maya Open in Quintana Roo, Mexico last May.
In her recent meets, Pagdanganan, 27, failed to make the cut at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give and Shoprite LPGA Classic presented by Acer in Belmont, Michigan and Galloway, New Jersey, respectively, early in the month.
Once she gets into the groove, the Filipina golfer showed that she can perform with the best of ’em, just like when she rallied in the Paris Olympic Games last year at the Le Golf National in the French capital, winding up just a stroke short of a podium finish, tying for fourth place.
Curiously, among those in that bunch who carded a 282 aggregate was the same Yang, who will seek to defend her title in one of women’s pro golf’s five majors.
Admittedly, it won’t be easy for Pagdanganan, who will be up against a powerhouse field that includes 12 of the tournament’s previous champions, including world No. 1 and Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Nelly Korda, who is eyeing her first championship this year on the tour.
