BIANCA Pagdanganan is poised to attain her best season finish in the US LPGA tour yesterday (Saturday in the US), riding a hot putter to shoot a 67 for a three-way tie for 10th in the FM Championship at the TPC Boston course in Norton, Massachusetts.
Kicking off with a 69 before slipping slightly with 70 in the rain-delayed second round, Pagdanganan found her groove anew, going one-under 33 with three birdies on the front, then added four more against two bogeys returning home over the par-72, 6,533-yard layout 61.2 kilometers southwest of Boston.
The back-to-back Olympic Games veteran pooled a three-round tally of 206, eight strokes behind Chinese Miranda Wang, who also had a deft putting touch and carded a bogey-less 65 to gain the inside track for the top prize of $615,000 (around P35.1 million).
An LPGA rookie, Wang took a three-stroke lead over former South Korean leader Sei Young Kim and American Rose Zhang, who both had a 201 tally after shooting 71 and 67, respectively, on the course softened by rain.
The long-hitting Pagdanganan was an obvious beneficiary of the development, flashing a sharp all-around game where, with a driving average of 263 yards, she hit all 14 fairways, reached 16 of 18 greens in regulation, and completed her round with just 31 putts.
Another sterling outing in the last round should surpass her previous best performance of a tie for 26th place in the Mexico Riviera Open at the El Camaleon golf course in Mayakoba, Mexico.
