Pagdanganan cracks with 67, trails by 4 in Meijer LPGA Classic

MANILA, Philippines – Bianca Pagdanganan brandished her awesome power and fired a five-under 67, earning a share of seventh place, four strokes behind a solid Jennifer Kupcho after 18 holes of the Meijer LPGA Classic in Belmont, Michigan Thursday (Friday, Manila time).

The Filipina ace birdied all but one of the five par-5s of the Blythefield Country Club layout, which took a severe beating from the elite field with 88 players breaking par that left those posting even-par cards and higher below the projected cutoff line.

Pagdanganan, who missed the cut five times in her last nine LPGA events, including in last week’s ShopRite Classic, made it quite simple in turning in an impressive 34-33 card she spiked with three birdies in a backside start. She gunned down two more on Nos. 2 and 4 then rebounded from a bogey mishap on the sixth with another birdie on No. 8 to put herself in early contention in the $2.5 million event.

“I was able to take advantage of the par-5s, get there in two. So it’s hard for me to think of anything that stood out from today’s round,” said Pagdanganan when asked about the highlights of her sterling round.

She also produced a couple of par-saves and credited her putting to her early surge in the event serving as tuneup for next week’s major championship, the Women’s PGA, in Maryland.

But what motivates her most is her past performances, learning from her mistakes while evaluating every aspect of her game.

“You have to assess the good and bad to work towards getting better,” said the ICTSI-backed ace, whose best finish this year was tied for 22nd in the Cognizant Founders Cup.

Yuka Saso also came out from a run of poor showings, including a missed cut stint in a botched US Women's Open title-retention drive, with an eagle-spiked backside 33. Unlike Pagdanganan, however, she failed to sustain her charge at the front, limping instead with a double bogey on No. 2 and a bogey on the fifth to fall below the cutoff score with a 72.

Dottie Ardina also made a decent backside start of 35 but like Saso, she faltered with a bogey on the fifth and holed out with a double bogey for a 74 and a share of 118th in a full-packed field of 144.

Pagdanganan actually missed four fairways on a 285-yard driving norm and failed to reach regulation three times while finishing with 30 putts. She flubbed her first birdie try on the par-5 No. 10 but mastered the rest of the long holes on Nos. 14, 18, 5 and 8 and adding two more birdies on Nos. 2 and 17, both par-4s.

“I felt my game was fine. I just hit a lot of good fairways and greens and gave myself good opportunities to make birdies,” said Pagdanganan.

But it was Kupcho who came away with a best output — a career-best nine-under 63 she laced with an eagle and seven birdies in a solid 30-33 card — that however put her just one stroke ahead of fellow American Gerina Mendoza. The latter also hit an eagle on No. 18 and fired seven birdies against a lone bogey for a 64 while Lexi Thompson of the US and Swedes Madelene Sagstrom and Anna Nordqvist carded identical 65s for joint third.

Defending champion Nelly Korda matched Pagdanganan’s output with three birdies in the last five holes while US Women’s Open winner Minjee Lee fired a 68 for joint 15th with last week’s ShopRite Classic winner Brooke Henderson and Thai rising star Atthaya Thitikul.