VIRTUALLY everything went wrong for Bianca Pagdanganan yesterday, shooting a tournament-worst 82 to wind up in 68th place at the end of the 77th US Women’s Open at the Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in Southern Pines, North Carolina.
In an abysmal display even for her, Pagdanganan had two double bogeys, eight bogeys against a lone birdie on hole No. 8 as she closed out with a four-round tally of 299 over the par-71, 6,546-yard course staging one of women’s professional golf’s majors for the fourth time.
The 2019 Southeast Asian Games double gold medalist still netted $19,870 (roughly P1.05 million) despite finishing 28 strokes behind Australian Minjee Lee, who bagged the prestigious championship after shooting a 71 for 271 under tough final day conditions.
Lee won by four strokes over American veteran Mina Harigae, who checked in at 72 and 275, to pocket the record purse of $1.8 million (P95 million) out of the total pot of $10 million while the latter earned $1,08 million (P57.1 million).
Defending champion Yuka Saso, who now plays under the Japanese flag, never made it to the last two rounds after missing the cut with 77 and 74, respectively, in the first 36 holes and was reduced to a spectator together with former compatriot Dottie Ardina, who had 78-69 in the first two rounds. — Bong Pedralvez
