Bianca Pagdanganan was off to a good start after finishing with 1-under 71 at the end of the opening round of the 2021 LPGA Mediheal Championship at the Lake Merced Golf Club in Daly City, California, Friday morning (Manila time).
Taking the course in one of the day’s first flights, the 2019 Southeast Asian Games champion has looked to duplicate 2018 Asiad teammate Yuka Saso’s impressive run at the recently concluded US Women’s Open in nearby San Francisco.
Pagdanganan did exactly what she was known for as she dropped bombs from the tee en route to taking three birdies at the first nine holes. A small mishap of a birdie in the third could not hamper her 2-under 34 at the turn as she rose to as high as solo fourth heading back to the clubhouse.
The University of Arizona-product, however, went back to square one after she double-bogeyed the par-4 no. 11. She then took one extra shot at no, 16 that negated her 13th hole birdie.
Pagdanganan, nonetheless, closed out the round with another birdie at No. 18 for the final score.
Dottie Ardina, on the other hand, also suffered a double at No. 11 to add to her frustrating day with three more bogeys, to end with 5-over 77 after one round.
Leona Maguire of Ireland leads the pack with a strong 7-under 65, but Thailand’s Jasmine Suwannapura is just a stroke down at soo second.
The tournament resumes on Friday and will go on to four rounds up to Sunday. The prize pot is set at $1.5-million (roughly P 73 million).
