FILIPINA ACE Bianca Pagdanganan fired a roaring five-under 67 to go just one shot off opening leader A Lim Kim in the Lotte Championship Thursday in Oahu, Hawaii.
Ms. Pagdanganan gunned down six birdies in the first 11 holes of the Hoakalei Country Club to grab a share of the lead early on. And though a bogey-bogey mishap in the 16th and 17th — both par-4s —pulled her down, the power-hitting Pinay recovered one stroke in the par-5 18th to move up to joint second and stay within striking distance of Kim.
The two-time Olympian shared No. 2 with Chinese Ruixin Liu, German Polly Mack, French Perrine Delacour and Taiwanese Peiyun Chien.
Ms. Kim, the 2020 US Women’s Open champion, started her round with an eagle on No. 1 en route to five-under 31 at the turn. She had a mix of three birdies and two bogeys at the back to finish at six-under for the day.
“I took advantage of all the birdie putts that I had, and gave myself a lot of opportunities. But at the same time, (I) still managed to play smart out there. Again, with the conditions, it’s easy to get impatient,” said Ms. Pagdanganan, who avoided the blustery afternoon conditions on Oahu that kept a lot of the competitors from catching Ms. Kim.
Meanwhile, Clariss Guce also got off to a good start, turning in a three-under 69 for share of 10th heading to Round 2.
Dottie Ardina shot a 70 for a piece of 21st. Paris Olympics campaigner Ms. Ardina actually stumbled with two bogeys and failed to break par in the front but bounced back with an eagle-spiked four-under 32 in the back. — Olmin Leyba
