BIANCA Pagdanganan let what began as a promising round slip away as her bid for a first LPGA Tour win ended in disaster on Sunday when she fired a final round three-over-par 75 at the Kruger Queen City Championship in Ohio.
Pagdanganan, 27, looked headed for victory or at least a high finish, when she eagled the 8th to follow up birdies on the first and seventh holes to go four-under for the round.
The fiery start put her at 17 under, just two shots behind leader Charlie Hull who had three straight birdies from the sixth. Pagdanganan was tied with world No. 1 Jeena Thitikul at second going to the ninth hole when she unraveled.
Fiery start laid to waste
She double bogeyed the hole and then strung four straight bogeys from the 12th, completely wiping out her early gains. Obviously rattled, the Filipina ace had one more bogey, on the 17th, before closing with a par for a 41.
She finished with 278, 10 under par, but it was only good for a tie for 29th place. Though she still brought home $15,426, her LPGA status for next season remains uncertain.
After the event, she was ranked 131 in the Race to the CME Globe where she needed to be in the top 100 to continue her LPGA campaign next year.
It has been a year of struggle for the two-time Olympian who was able to make just five cuts out of 14 events she entered.
Charlie Hull of England won the tournament after Thitikul uncharacteristically four-putted the 18th hole.
Thitikul was one up over Hull going to the final hole but four-putted from 50 feet for bogey, allowing the Brit to steal the win with a two-putt birdie.
Hull closed with a four-under-par 68 and finished at 20 under, while Thitikul also shot 68. She had trailed Hull by one at the start of the final round.
RICO HOEY IN TOP 10
Meanwhile, Rico Hoey shot a four-under-par 68 in the final round and tied for ninth at the Procore Championship on Sunday. Hoey had four birdies in a bogey-free round and took home $181,500.
Hoey had a four-day total of 276, 12-under-par, seven strokes behind world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler who won his sixth tournament for the year and third in five starts. It was also his 19th overall.
“I kind of did my best to stay in my own world and keep making birdies,” said Scheffler, who carded a final-round 67 to overcome Ben Griffin's starting two-shot lead, after his win.
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