Bianca Pagdanganan and Dottie Ardina are on track to gain slots to the Paris Olympic golf tournament in the latest list released by the Official World Golf Rankings which is tracking the qualification of men and women golfers for the Games.
Pagdanganan, 26, the country’s top woman golfer who is currently campaigning in the LPGA, is ranked 37th, while Ardina, 30, also in the US playing in various tours including the LPGA, is in 53rd spot.
The top 60 players at the end of the qualification period, which is June 24, qualify to compete in the Olympics which is Aug. 7-10 for women, and Aug. 1-4 for men.
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With only a month left before the final list is announced, it is almost certain Pagdanganan will make the cut. On the other hand, Ardina will have to perform well in her remaining events to keep her current status.
If Pagdanganan makes it, this will be her second straight Olympics. She competed in the Tokyo Games last 2021 where she partnered with then Filipino player Yuka Saso, now a Japanese citizen.
Pagdanganan recently is in a rich vein of form. She placed seventh, her first top 10 this season, in the last LPGA event she competed in, the Mizuho Americas Open, won by Nellie Korda last week.
Saso, however, is unlikely to make it back to the Olympics to represent Japan as many players are above her in the race for two maximum slots for the Olympics.
Ardina previously qualified for the Olympics in Rio Games in 2016, but declined the invitation fearing infection from the Zika virus then prevalent in Brazil.
Tabuena in the bubble
Meanwhile, the country’s top male golfer, Miguel Tabuena, 29, is on the waiting list for the Paris Games. He is currently ranked 408th in the world but may need a lot of luck to make the cut.
He is fifth in the alternate list for 60th place.
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