A PAIR of impressive performances propelled golfers Bianca Pagdanganan and Dottie Ardina to land at fourth and 13th places, respectively, in the Women’s Individual Golf Stroke Play of the 2024 Paris Olympics. The fixtures took place over four rounds from August 7 to 10, 2024, at the Le Golf National in Paris, France.
The Filipino duo was part of a competitive field of 60 golfers, which included noteworthy names such as world top-ranked Nelly Korda and Lillia Vu of the United States. This year’s pool also included tenth-ranked Japanese representative Yuka Saso, who previously donned the Philippine flag in the 2020 Olympics.
First to tee up was Ardina, who suffered a rocky start with only four strokes over par, ending her first run tying for 40th place. Meanwhile, Pagdanganan managed to finish a respectable 13th on even par to kick off her second Olympics.
On the following day, both golfers began to heat up, with Pagdanganan climbing up seven spots. This landed the former University of Arizona Wildcat at sixth place via a 69-stroke round, gaining an overall of three under par. Meanwhile, Ardina went even for par, an improvement from her previous outing. However, her impressive showing still left her with the same score of +4 from the first round.
With the Philippine contingent incurring mixed results, it was Ardina who dominated in the third round. The Laguna native made significant strides with a 69-stroke round, giving her a -3 to elevate herself to T-23 with an overall score of one over par.
On the other hand, Pagdanganan capped off the day with a 73-stroke round, one swing over par. Tied for 13th place, the Filipina remained in medal contention, with an overall score of 2 under par.
The final round swung in favor of the Filipinas, with both golfers having their best performances in the Games. Pagdanganan finished off with a monster 68-stroke performance for a -4 to bring her overall score to a -6.
The world’s 125th-ranked Pagdanganan ended her campaign at provisional third place. However, her Cinderella run came to a close when Chinese golfer Lin Xiyu secured a birdie on her final hole, bringing her overall score to a -7 and sending Pagdanganan down to her final ranking at fourth.
Meanwhile, world’s 260th-ranked Ardina also produced a 68-stroke performance, scoring a -4 in her final round to elevate her overall score to -3. With her closing performance, Ardina climbed up to a final ranking of 13th, ending her Olympic debut on a high note.
Fighting back tears amid the heartbreak, Pagdanganan shared in an interview with One Sports that she is still proud of her Olympic run despite the difficulties she faced in the final round. “I really feel proud of how I performed in such extreme pressure,” she said.
By the end of the event, New Zealand’s Lydia Ko clinched the gold medal, followed by Germany’s Esther Henseleit, and the aforementioned Lin. Despite falling short of the podium, Pagdanganan’s fourth-place finish set the record for the highest placement of a Filipino golfer in the Olympics.
With the two Filipina golfers closing out the country’s appearance in Paris, the Centennial Team will officially bring home two gold and two bronze medals in the Philippines’ best Olympic showing in history.
