When she’s hot, Bianca Pagdanganan is almost unstoppable.
She finished in joint 19th in the Portland Classic in Oregon Sunday but not after a breakthrough round of a 9-under-63 which she spiked with an eagle.
It was her best round in three years on the LPGA Tour that lifted her from joint 54th to a share of 19th in the event won by first-time winner Andrea Lee of the US.
Though she finished nine strokes off Lee with a 10-under 278 total at the Columbia Edgewater Country Club course, the ICTSI-sponsored Pagdanganan wowed her supporters with her power as she missed just three fairways on a 287-yard driving clip and reached regulation all but two times. She finished with 27 putts.
She eagled the par-5 No. 7 for a frontside 33 that included two birdies against a bogey and dominated the backside of the par-72 layout with a six-birdie binge for a solid 30.
Pagdanganan’s big finish also netted her $16,921 (roughly P965,000).
Pagdanganan’s 19th place finish was also her best since she tied for 12th in Dow Great Lakes Bay last year and it ended a three-missed cut run from this year’s Dow Great Lakes Bay, the Dana Open and the Kroger City Championship.
She tied Rachel Rohanna (68) of the US, Thai Pornanong Phatlum (68), Korean Hye Jin Choi (70) and erstwhile contender Carlota Ciganda (72) of Spain and finished ahead of the likes of Korean major winner A Lim Kim (68-24th), Hinako Shibuno of Japan (72-28th), American world No. 2 Nelly Korda (72-31st) and Korean two-time major champion So Yeon Ryu (72-35th).
Pagdanganan also made a remarkable 19-spot jump in the Race to CME Globe Season ranking from No. 137 to No. 118 with 101.147 Globe points although she remained too far behind the No. 100 ranked player – Ruixin Liu of China, who has 189.917 points.
