MANILA, Philippines — Forget the 300-yard barrier. Despite a forecast of fine weather in the next four days and given the length of the Highland Meadows Golf Club, Bianca Pagdanganan said she would be keeping her driver in the bag most of the time.
Instead, the power-hitting Filipina shotmaker would be opting for a rather conservative play in an attempt to go low and contend in the $1.7 million Marathon Classic, which gets under way Thursday in Sylvania, Ohio (Friday in Manila).
“Highland Meadows (6476 yards) is shorter but narrower than Inverness Club (6852 yards) and the greens are pretty soft. I think the challenge is definitely trying to keep the ball in the fairway and trying to hit the greens,” said Pagdanganan, who outdrove the Drive On Championship field in Toledo last week with a 295-yard norm to spark conversations of her going for the 300-yard fence this week.
But with the bunkers coming into play in most holes and Highland Meadows’ last line of defense proving to be a lot more challenging, the SEA Games double gold medalist said emphasis would be on accuracy rather than length in a bid to improve on her joint 28th finish in her maiden pro tournament last week.
“The weather this week should be nice and sunny but I won’t be hitting a lot of drivers because I’ll be putting bunkers into play or I’ll be running out of fairway,” Pagdanganan told The STAR. “It’s going to be challenging because the greens are much smaller than the ones at Inverness.”