Filipina 22-year-old golfer Bianca Pagdanganan bagged 3rd place at the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) 2020 Drive On Championship.
Pagdanganan fell behind tournament winner Ally McDonald, who captured her first LPGA title, winning the Drive On Championship by just one stroke over fellow American Danielle Kang.
In only her sixth professional start, the world number 233 and LPGA driving distance leader Pagdanganan shot 70 to finish third on 274 and was followed by American Mina Harigae and Spain’s Carlota Ciganda who shared the fourth place on 275.
The Filipina rookie made 16 consecutive pars before closing with back-to-back birdies for two-under par 70 and 14-under overall, just two shots shy of eventual winner McDonald. This is her second consecutive top 10 finish after placing ninth in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship two weeks ago in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.
She started the final day one shot behind McDonald but could not get her birdie putts to drop until the last two holes where she drained a 15-footer on 17 and a two-footer on the par-5 18.
Pagdanganan said: “My round was boring, like very boring. I couldn’t get anything to drop. It’s important to stay patient but at the same time, it was frustrating.”
“I’m still happy with how I played and where my game is going. I haven’t struck the ball this well in a while, so it definitely good and I’m glad with how I gave myself a lot of opportunities this week,” she added.
Celebrating her 28th birthday, the world number 62 McDonald recorded a final-round three-under par 69 to finish 72 holes on 16-under 272 at Reynolds Lake Oconee in Greensboro, Georgia.
Prior to this win, her best LPGA finish was third at the 2019 Shoprite Classic.
McDonald said: “I’ve never doubted my ability but it’s really hard to win out here. I hung in there and I was really happy to get a win.”