NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. – After Bianca Pagdanganan opened with a 77 at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, her father Sam picked her up at Aronimink Golf Club and said, “Welcome to the majors.”
Pagdanganan had four-putted her way to a triple-bogey on her third hole and never really recovered. Later that day she got an email from tournament officials saying that those who made the cut could have two guests come out to the course over the weekend. Prior to that, only instructors were allowed.
Pagdanganan wasn’t about to let her first major go by without her dad watching her hit a shot.
“That was my motivation,” she said of the second-round 65 that vaulted her up the board.
SCORES: KPMG Women’s PGA Championship
On Saturday, in front of her father and an aunt who lives nearby in New Jersey, Pagdanganan posted another flawless 65 to jump into the top five, four shots back of leader Sei Young Kim. She hasn’t dropped a shot on the demanding Donald Ross design since Thursday.
“I didn’t even expect to get into the KPMG until someone told me I was second alternate after the event in Portland,” she said. “I was like, I’m gonna get into a major? Really?”
With the 12-hour time difference, Pagdanganan’s family in the Philippines has to stay up all night to catch the action live. They’ve been blowing up her phone with messages. This is only her fifth start in an LPGA event as a pro and sixth start overall. The Arizona grad didn’t qualify for last week’s ShopRite LPGA Classic, which had a smaller field. Instead, she went to Ping and had something special inscribed on one of her wedges.
Pagdanganan’s paternal grandmother, Corazon, died on September 22, the same day she found out she had gotten into the KPMG. Her mother, Bing, celebrated a birthday that day, too. Corazon loved to make Bianca’s favorite dishes when she was home in the Philippines.
Sam and his sister, Niña, weren’t able to travel back to the Philippines because of COVID-19. Six of Corazon’s seven children, in fact, were in the U.S. when she died, and they mourned together over video calls.
Corazon was 87 and died peacefully of natural causes.
Sam cried when he saw his mother’s name etched on Bianca’s 60-degree wedge. Corazon translates to “heart” in Spanish.
Before Bianca’s second round, her father told her that the problem wasn’t her swing or mechanics. She’d simply let the magnitude of the moment get to her.
“Don’t try too hard,” he said. “The solution is to think better.”
There are a host of big name-players on the board at Aronimink, but 2020 has made life impossible to predict.
A woman who didn’t have any LPGA status at all won the year’s first major. Why couldn’t Pagdanganan, who is ranked 712th in the world, win in her major debut?
Pagdanganan, who helped Arizona win the NCAA Championship in 2018, is currently the longest player on tour with an average driving distance of 287 yards. That length has been key this week, but where she’s really made tremendous strides of late is on the putting green, thanks in part to COVID-19 quarantine in San Diego. She credited a putting aid called Blast Golf for helping with the tempo of her stroke.
“It says that the ideal ratio of your putting stroke should be two to one,” she said, “so your back-stroke should take twice as much as your follow-through.”
The feel player, however, tries not to overthink things too much. At this point, it’s all about trusting the game that has brought her within striking distance on Sunday at a major.
“I just tell myself that there’s a reason why you’re here and you’re good enough to be out here,” said Pagdanganan. “Just don’t try to do anything spectacular. Just enjoy and play your game.”
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