IN their first reunion since last year’s Tokyo Olympic Games, former national teammates Yuka Saso and Bianca Pagdanganan will play under different flags when they compete today (Thursday in the US) in the Gainbridge LPGA in Boca Rio at the Boca Rio Golf Club in Florida.
It will be the first tournament of the 2022 season for Pagdanganan and the second for Saso as a Japanese citizen. Saso finished in sixth place at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in neighboring Orlando over the weekend.
Saso finished in a six-way tie for ninth while Pagdanganan wound up in a three-way deadlock for 43rd in the Tokyo Olympic women’s golf tournament at the Kamusigaseki Country Club last August 2021.
Led by Tokyo Olympic gold medalist and defending champion Nelly Korda, the banner field will battle for the top prize of $300,000 (around P15.4 million) in the $2 million (P102.3 million) 72-hole event to be played at the par-72, 6,701-yard layout in the city where Office Depot has its headquarters.
