By REYNALD MAGALLON
Bianca Pagdanganan recovered from a sluggish start and salvaged a one-under par 71 to remain within striking distance through three rounds in the LPGA Maybank Championship at the challenging Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club on Saturday, Oct. 26.
The Filipina ace had a three-day aggregate of 206 after earlier rounds of 70 and 66 – seven shots off Thailand’s Jeeno Thitukul, China’s Ruoning Yin and South Korea’s Haeran Ryu.
After a stellar second round performance, Pagdanganan struggled with her touch on the frontnine, stumbling with two bogeys and a double-bogey that negated her two birdies.
Pagdanganan did manage to recover with three birdies on the backnine but was not enough to prevent her from sliding after only trailing previous leader Maja Stark by four shots at the end of the second round.
The 26-year-old Filipina has been impressive so far in the tournament although she failed to sustain the strong second round performance that saw her fire eight birdies against a double-bogey.
Meanwhile, Filipina-Japanese Yuka Saso bounced back from a 75 in the second round with a 68 on the third for a 209, trailing leaders by nine. She shot a 66 on the first round.
Thitikul fired a sizzling 8-under par 68 to leap eight spots and take the lead. Yin and Ryu shot 66 and 67 respectively to get a share of the top spot while overnight leader, Stark slipped to the fourth spot after only carding a 70.
