Pagdanganan surprise leader

Bianca Pagdanganan gunned down seven birdies in a six-under-par 66 to become the surprise leader after the opening 18 holes of the Philippine Ladies Open golf championship at Wack Wack West in Mandaluyong.

Four of those birdies came in her final nine holes, the front, for a 33-33 effort that put her two shots up on the fancied Pauline del Rosario and four ahead of the in-form Yuka Saso and Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul.

Pagdanganan could have chalked up her career-best round if not for a closing bogey on No. 9, a round that came as a surprise, even to Pagdanganan herself, considering that she had a performance to forget in last week’s Philippine Amateurs won by Saso.

“I didn’t expect to hit it this well,” Pagdanganan, a sophomore at Gonzaga University in Washington, said. “I struggled at Riviera last week, but it all worked out perfectly well today.”

Harmie Constantino, whom Saso dethroned last week at Riviera’s Couples layout, fired a 71 to stay in the mix.