Pagdanganan rallies to salvage a 72, slips to joint 24th in Meijer LPGA Classic

MANILA, Philippines — Bianca Pagdanganan found her range and rhythm late but just in time to save an even-par 72 although she slipped from joint seventh to a share of 24th halfway through the Meijer LPGA Classic still paced by a solid Jennifer Kupcho in Belmont, Michigan Friday (Saturday, Manila time).

But while Pagdanganan safely made it to the weekend play of the $2.5 million event serving as the final tune-up for next week’s Women’s PGA Championship in Maryland, ICTSI teammates Dottie Ardina and Yuka Saso missed the cut with a 69 and 72, respectively, at the Blythefield Country Club course which still yielded 60 under-par scores after 88 players broke par Thursday (Friday in Manila).

Pagdanganan was one of those who shone in the first round, leaning on her power game to shoot a 67 and stay in early contention. But she found the going a lot tougher at resumption of play, bogeying three of the first six holes and tumbling down the leaderboard.

But after trading a birdie on No. 10 with a bogey on the next, the former Philippine Ladies Open champion put her brute force on display again, birdying the last two par-5s (Nos. 14 and 18) and hitting a crisp iron shot to pick up a stroke on the par-3 No. 15.

That closing 33 should augur well to her comeback bid in the third round where she will slug it out with Aussie Su Oh at 10:50 a.m. on No. 1.

But she will be the lone Filipina bet among the 78-player field which survived the cut at two-under overall as Ardina ran out of holes in a frantic attempt to get through, birdying the last two holes to card a 69 but missing the cut by one with a 143 aggregate.

Saso, on the other hand, failed to recover from a closing frontside meltdown in the first round, bogeying two of the first 11 holes and settling for two birdies in the next three for a second 72 and a 144.

Saso sizzled early Thursday with an eagle-spiked backside 33 but limped with a closing 39 marred by a double bogey and a bogey. It was her second straight missed cut stint after failing to advance in last week’s US Women’s Open which she ruled in playoff fashion in a major career breakthrough last year in San Francisco.

Kupcho, meanwhile, stayed flawless for the second straight day, scoring a follow-up to her solid eagle-aided 63 in the first round with another bogey-free 67, her 14-under 130 total keeping her two strokes clear of a hot-charging defending champion Nelly Korda of the US, who eagled No. 14 and went on to shoot five birdies in a solid 65 for a 132.

Spain’s Carlota Ciganda also turned in a 65 marked by two eagles to fuel her title drive at third with 133 while last week’s LPGA leg winner Brooke Henderson eagled the 18th on her way to a 66 for joint fourth at 134 with Swede Madelene Sagstrom and American Lexi Thompson, who matched 69s.