BIANCA Pagdanganan went from bad to worse yesterday (Sunday in the US), shooting a final-round 78 to end her campaign in the 68th KPMG Women’s PGA Championship near the bottom in a three-way tie for 68th place at the Congressional Country Club Blue Course in Bethesda, Maryland.
Pagdanganan began ominously with back-to-back bogeys on holes No. 1 and No. 2 and never recovered, adding five more against a lone birdie on the eighth hole, as she wrapped up her stint in one of the US LPGA’s majors with a four-round tally of 301.
The Tokyo Olympic Games veteran, who finished ninth in the same tournament in her rookie year in 2020, netted $20,072 (roughly P1.1 million) while ending the event 18 strokes South Korean champion In Jee Chun.
Chun had putting woes of her own in closing out with a second straight 75 for 283, edging fading American veteran Lexi Thompson (70-284) by one stroke in bagging her first major golf championship and the eye-popping prize of $1.35 million (P74.4 million) to go with it.
Pagdanganan’s former national teammate Yuka Saso, who won the 2021 US Women’s Open as a Filipino but now plays for Japan, did slightly better in winding up with a 77 for 292, good for a 10-way deadlock for 30th place and took home $59,787 (P3.3 million).
