MORONG, Bataan – PK Kongkraphan outdueled Bianca Pagdanganan in a wild finish, pouncing on the Filipina ace’s double bogey on No. 16 and birdying the 17th for a 68 and a one-shot lead after the first round of the Anvaya Cove International on Tuesday.
Kongkraphan held her own in the featured threesome, doing just enough to stay ahead of Pagdanganan's 69 and Taiwan No. 1 Ya-Chun Chang who finished another shot back in a tie with compatriot Yi-Tsen Chou and Thai Kusuma Meechai at 70.
Pagdanganan sizzled with an eagle-birdie-birdie run from No. 10 to wrest control at 5-under but dropped out of a share of lead with the Thai at the par-3 No. 16 where she overshot the green and needed two putts to get to the putting surface.
Taiwanese Ching Huang, a former Ladies Philippine Golf Tour winner at Midlands, and Thai Kultida Pramphun matched 71s, while Hsuan-Ping Chang and fellow Taiwanese Tsai-Ching Tseng and Thais Pakin Kawinpakorn and Preenaphan Poomklay matched par 72s.
The rest of the locals, however, wavered in tough conditions, including last year’s three-leg winner Chanelle Avaricio, who limped home with a 77 in a tie with reigning LPGT OOM champion Chihiro Ikeda for joint 27th. Harmie Constantino and Daniella Uy struggled with 78s with 36 holes left in the $100,000 event organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. and co-sanctioned by the LPGA of Taiwan.
That Kongkraphan, Pagdanganan and Chang took the top 3 spots hardly came as a surprise for a gallery that was treated to top-notch shotmaking not just from the fancied three but from the rest of the 69-player field made up of the top TLPGA, Thai LPGA and LPGT campaigners.
And the world-class Kevin Ramsey-designed course dotted with water hazards and strategically-placed bunkers and which requires a variety of shots from steep uphill and downhill lies, put into focus not just the field’s talent and skills but also its physical and mental stamina.
“You don’t have to be too aggressive on this course,” said Kongkraphan, the best-credentialed player in the fold with eight years of LPGA Tour experience and winner of the Thai LPGA Tour Order of Merit trophy last year.
Despite her late wobble, Pagdanganan said she was satisfied with her first round in the country as a pro, which she described as “pretty steady.”
But after a two-birdie, one-bogey frontside, she actually turned hot, scoring an eagle on the par-5 No. 10 then birdying the next two to storm ahead at 5-under.
“It was super windy so I felt I needed to make quite few adjustments. But I hit a 3-wood off the tee (No. 10) down the middle of the fairway. I had 152 yards left that played 135 yards and used a pitching wedge. Though I hit it short, I got a lucky bounce closer to the hole and made it from 5 feet,” said the former SEA Games double gold medalist.
“My goal was to hit fairways, and felt like this course is really narrow and it’s important to keep your ball in play,” said the ICTSI-backed shotmaker. “I think I was able to at least kind of get that goal down for the day, was pretty satisfied with how I hit it, and felt like I needed to capitalize more on my real opportunities. But there’s still a couple of rounds left and there’s still a lot more to look forward to.”
Two strokes behind Kongkraphan, Chang, a former teammate of Pagdanganan at the University of Arizona, is also upbeat of her chances although she had to buck a bum stomach.
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