The two Filipina golfers trended in opposite directions in the third round of the Paris 2024 women’s individual stroke play.
Golfers Bianca Pagdanganan and Dottie Ardina had contrasting fortunes in the third round of the Paris 2024 Olympics women’s individual stroke play, with the former sliding down the leaderboard and the latter finally making her move with 18 holes left.
Pagdanganan started the day tied for sixth with a 3-under 141, but ended it a stroke back after a 1-over 73 that sent her tumbling down to a tie for 13th and five strokes off the medal circle. She actually got off to a promising start, birdying the second hole to briefly move up to a tie for fifth. But bogeys on the fourth and eighth holes dragged her down before a birdie on the ninth squared things up.
In the first two rounds, Pagdanganan saved her best work for the back nine. This wasn’t the case in the third round, though, as she had bogeys on the 12th and 17th before she steadied herself with a birdie on the 18th for a three-day total of 2-under 214.
There was another shakeup atop the leaderboard, with Tokyo 2020 bronze medalist Lydia Ko of New Zealand catching Round 2 leader Morgane Metraux of Switzerland at first place after a 68 for a 207. The United States’ Rose Zhang sizzled with a 67 to jump nine spots to a tie for third at 209 with Japan’s Miyu Yamashita, who carded a 68.
While Pagdanganan slipped, Ardina fired her first sub-par round, turning in a 3-under 69 for a 1-over 217. Ardina was 3-under for the front nine but shot a disastrous triple-bogey on the 16th to temporarily erase all the gains she made earlier. But she recovered with a birdie on the 17th and an eagle on the 18th to salvage that 3-under.
At five shots off third place, Pagdanganan will need to shoot around 65 or 66 to stay in the hunt for a medal in the final round on Saturday. Ardina, meanwhile, practically needs a historic performance to get a medal.
Banner Image from AFP.