Bianca Pagdanganan showed some spurts of form despite a shaky start to end at 1-under 70 for the first round of the 2021 Volunteers of America Classic of the LPGA Tour, at Old American Golf Club, The Colony, Texas, on Friday (Manila time).
Pagdanganan, who will be part of Team Pilipinas in the Tokyo Games, missed the cut in the just recent KPMG PGA Women’s Championship, but she is ready to gain back her confidence starting with this tournament.
The 2019 Southeast Asian Games double gold medalist was off to a great start after two birdies in the back nine. She opened her account with a birdie at No. 10 before following up with another in the par-5 No. 17.
Pagdanganan needed an extra shot on No,.18 to head into the other side with a 1-under 35.
The tour’s driving leader from last year finally bagged a confidence-boosting eagle, powering through the par-5 No. 2 in just three shots, and went to 3-under, which is her highest of the day.
Two more bogeys, however, dampened Pagdanganan’s spirits a little as she reassesses her performance into the following day with her final score at 1-under for a share of 50th place.
Filipino-American Clariss Guce, who sat out the previously mentioned Atlanta tilt also had a rough opening to this Texas’ lone LPGA championship but finished one better at 2-under 69 for a tie of 33rd place.
Three birdies and a bogey found Guce at 2-under after the backside, before also dealing well with No. 2 for a birdie. A bogey three holes after that closed out her day as pars went her way up to the end of the round.
On the other hand, Dottie Ardina, who is fresh from a top 12 finish in Atlanta, suffered a similar rollercoaster of a day to end up at a tie with Pagdanganan and 19 others in 1-under 70.
The 27-year-old emerged from the back nine at 1-under after negating an earlier blunder at No.12, when she took Nos. 17 and 18 on back-to-back birdies.
An extra shot on the fifth hole pushed her back to even par, but Ardina got herself into the projected cut line with a three-shot take of No 8.
Pagdanganan, Guce, and Ardina look to climb up the standings as the second round rolls on Friday in this northern Texas suburb.
