Pagdanganan, Ardina resume drive for LPGA cards

MANILA, Philippines – Bianca Pagdanganan and Dottie Ardina start their final drive leading to the coveted LPGA cards in contrasting spots but with a mutual desired result as the Q-Series Week 2 fires off Thursday (Friday, Manila time) at the tough Highland Oaks Golf Club in Dothan, Alabama.

While Pagdanganan looks to finally gaining a full LPGA Tour status for 2022 with a strong fightback from a wobbly start in Week 1 to joint 19th at 279 heading to this week’s battle, fellow ICTSI-backed Ardina will have a lot of catching up to do at joint 62nd, barely making the 74-player cut with a 287 aggregate.

The surviving field’s Week One performance does matter as their scores will be carried over to the start of the concluding Week Two with the Top 45-plus-ties on Sunday gaining full membership status next year.

A forecast of rain could make it doubly daunting for the elite cast with the chase for the sought-after slots tipped to go down to the last putt at Highland Oaks Golf Club’s sloping surface.

Pauline Roussin-Bouchard pooled a 19-under 267 total to claim the first week honors with the Frenchwoman, who also topped the LPGA Stage 2 elims, drawing Koreans Hye Jin Choi and Na Rin An in the featured threesome at 9:42 a.m.

Ardina is three strokes behind the projected final cut but that could change with a strong start at 9:20 a.m. on No. 10 with Thai Pavarisa Yoktuan and Anita Uwadia of Britain.

But with the rest all geared up and determined to achieve LPGA status, Ardina will also need to unleash a strong finishing kick missing in her past campaigns although she could build on her clutch birdie in Round 4 that kept her in Week Two roster.

Pagdanganan, meanwhile, is focusing more on mindset than results, dumping all the negative thoughts that have hounded her past performances and anchored her big comeback from a wobbly start in Week 1 to a valued spot in time for the final stretch of the elims.

She said she’s been working not just improving her ball control but also self-control, stressing: “It's more just being comfortable and trusting my swing throughout the whole of Q-Series.”

The Univ. of Arizona product kicks off her bid at 8:36 a.m. with Americans Jennifer Chang and Janie Jackson, driven and confident as ever as when she broke into the Tour with a grip-it-and-rip-it mentality last year, turning from a virtual unknown into one of the most talked-about players in a matter of months.

But 2021 didn’t turn out quite as planned and hoped following a series of mediocre showing early in the season but with the full LPGA status just within reach, things could look up indeed for Pagdanganan for the coming season.