Pagdanganan leads by 5

Bianca Pagdanganan assembled a seven-under-par 65 yesterday and zoomed to a five-shot lead in the Philippine Ladies Open golf championship, moving one solid round away from the biggest title of a young career being nurtured in the US.

The 19-year-old sophomore at Gonzaga University in Washington torched Wack Wack West, returning a 32-33 card for 131 overall with Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul shooting a 66 to stay in second.

“It’s my personal best,” said Pagdanganan.

Pauline del Rosario and Yuka Saso shot themselves in the foot with identical 72s as Del Rosario fell nine shots behind and Saso another two strokes adrift. —MUSONG R. CASTILLO