Bianca, Dottie look solid after 70s
My short game helped me today
Bianca Pagdanganan and Dottie Ardina opened with identical two-under par 70s on Friday at the start of the Cambia Portland Classic at the Columbia Edgewater Country Club in Portland, Oregon.
Ardina, 26, took advantage of an early tee time to shoot four birdies against two bogeys. She hit all but one fairway and reached 12 of 18 greens in a solid tee-to-green effort.
Pagdanganan, the 22-year-old rookie, matched Ardina’s effort before dusk fell.
Using her length off the tee, Pagdanganan collected three of four birdies on par-5 holes but picked up two bogeys.
Easily one of the tour’s longest hitters, Pagdanganan drove an average distance of 288 yards but missed four fairways and six greens.
“My short game helped me today,” said the reigning Southeast Asian Games champion who admitted having a hard time keeping the ball close to the pin.
“Got caught in the rough a couple times and I was spinning the ball a lot so every time I hit a green I couldn’t get it close,” she added.
Pagdanganan, who started in the back nine, birdied the first three holes. On 14, her short birdie attempt lipped out.
She made her first bogey from the bunker on 17 before play was suspended for over an hour due to thunderstorms.
“I didn’t save my pars from the bunker,” she rued, referring to another bogey on 2.
Looking forward to the weekend, Pagdanganan said she will stick to the gameplan
Pagdanganan and Ardina, both backed by ICTSI, are in a group tied for 23rd place, four shots behind co-leaders Hannah Green and Cydney Clanton who sparkled with similar 66s.
The tournament has been reduced to 54 holes because of poor air quality due to wildfires.
While Green was able to complete her round, more than a dozen other players were on the course when darkness fell, and will return to complete the first round on Saturday morning.
“I missed quite a lot of greens compared to my score, so the only putt I really missed was the one on the last, so to say that is pretty good,” Green said.
“I’m super-happy that we finished and super-happy with my round.”
The 23-year-old Australian equaled the tournament’s 72-hole scoring record with a 21-under winning total last year.
Clanton teed off early and shook off an early bogey at the fourth.
The American’s seven birdies included five in the last eight holes.
“I finally made some putts,” Clanton said. “It’s also nice to hit some really close and had a par-five in two have a two-putt. So, it was really nice to see the ball starting to go in the hole.”
Germany’s Caroline Masson, Mexico’s Gaby Lopez, England’s Mel Reid and American Amy Olson were in the clubhouse on five-under 67.
Yealimi Noh was five-under with one hole left to play when darkness halted play.
South Korea’s Lee-Mi-rim, coming off her first major victory at the ANA Inspiration on Sunday, carded a 70.
Lee defeated American Nelly Korda and Canada’s Brooke Henderson in a playoff at Mission Hills. Both Korda and Henderson — who won the Portland title in 2015 and 2016 — withdrew this week because of the air quality concerns.