PAGDANGANAN IN HOT PURSUIT
GREENSBORO, Georgia—ally Mcdonald held onto the lead Saturday in the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Drive On Championship-lake Reynolds Oconee, shooting a three-under 69 to take a one-stroke advantage into the final round.
Winless on the LPGA Tour, the 27- year- old from Mississippi had a 13- under 203 total on the Great Waters Course. Bianca Pagdanganan of the Philippines was second after a 69.
“I’m excited with the position I’m in,” Mcdonald said. “Mentally, I think I handled myself really well. Ready to take on tomorrow.”
Four strokes ahead of Pagdanganan with two holes to play, Mcdonald bogeyed the par- three 17th, while playing partner Pagdanganan closed with two birdies.
Mcdonald bogeyed the first hole and made a big mid-round run with five birdies in an eighthole stretch.
“I played some really solid golf after I kind of settled in,” Mcdonald said. “Made a few bad swings towards the end of the round, but I’m not going to discredit how I really did settle in and played solid golf for most of my holes.”
Pagdanganan, a member of Arizona’s 2018 NCAA championship team after starting her college career at Gonzaga, is making her sixth LPGA Tour start of the year and seventh overall.
“There was like a huge sigh of relief after I made my last putt,” Pagdanganan said. “It was a little frustrating. I was hitting so many good shots but couldn’t get any putts to drop. Overall, I’m still pretty happy with how I played.”
Danielle Kang was third at 11 under after a 70 in the event added to the schedule because of the Covid-19 pandemic that shut down women’s golf for five months.
“It seems pretty surreal being in this position in my career but at the same time exciting,” Pagdanganan said.
Not since Jennifer Rosales annexed her second LPGA crown via a two- stroke victory over Cristie Kerr in the SBS Open at Turtle Bay in Hawaii in 2005 had a Filipina came so close to an LPGA victory.
A victory by Pagdanganan on Sunday could net her $ 195,000 ( P9.4 million) right in her maiden season.
With a well laid- out game plan and mindset, the International Container Terminal Services Inc.- backed Pagdanganan is ready to take on her opponents.
“I don’t think I have to do anything different tomorrow ( Sunday). I will just honestly trust my swing. I played good the past three rounds so I will just keep reminding myself to stick to my game plan,” she said. Expect her to also keep his coach Carito ( Villaroman) and dad Sam’s reminders all the way to the finish.
“They just said to play my
game and imagine the ball going in the hole,” said the circuit’s driving leader, who also continued to amaze the field off the mound by the day.
She averaged 300 yards in her first round 68, tapered off with a 295-yard average in her second round 67 before uncorking a monstrous 310-yard norm Saturday, including a stirring 313-yard blast on the par-five 18th.
“I’m very frustrated today, but there was a lot of up-and- downs,” Kang said. “But I think I handled the curve balls pretty well. Good to finish on a birdie.”
The tour returned with another Drive On tournament in Toledo, Ohio, in late July, with Kang winning that event and again the following week in Sylvania, Ohio. She leads the Race to CME Globe and, at No. 5 in the world, is the topranked player in the field,
“People out here are really supportive and they’ve been kind of boating or jet skiing from hole to hole,” Kang said. “That’s pretty cool and fun. They’re all here having fun, so that’s the whole point of it, for people to watch and have fun and be entertained. I’m glad they’re having a blast.”
Carlota Ciganda of Spain had a 68 to get to 10 under. Australia’s Katherine Kirk was 9 under after a 70.
“Course is in amazing shape,” Kirk said. “I think maybe it was a little trickier to score today, like harder to make get it close and have a lot of birdie opportunities. Our group certainly kind of had some moments of struggles and moments of brilliance, but the golf course is fabulous.”