SHAKEN by a horrible start, Bianca Pagdanganan carded her worst round, a 74 yesterday (Sunday in the US), and plummeted into a three-way tie for 47th at the end of the CME Group Tour Championship at the Tiburon Golf Club Gold Course in Naples, Florida.
Hoping for a respectable finish in the season-ending competition, Pagdanganan began with a double bogey, bogey, and bogey on her first three holes in the back nine and never recovered although she had three birdies later in the front nine of the par-72, 6,556-yard course.
She had a four-round total of 283, adding $43,500 (around P2.4 million) to her bank account, 22 shots behind South Korean champion Amy Yang, who birdied the last two holes for a 66 and a three-shot win over American Alison Lee.
The win was Yang’s fifth on the US LPGA tour, the first four coming in the Asian legs of the circuit. She pocketed the grand prize of $2 million (P110 million).
With her tour card for the 2024 season secured, Pagdanganan would likely take a much-needed break and prepare for next year’s grind while also resuming her drive for a second straight Olympic Games in Paris.
She is currently ranked No. 42 in the International Golf Federation Olympic women’s rankings, with the top 60 players eligible to play in the Summer Games after the cut-off date of June 24, 2024.
