Pagdanganan now full-fledged LPGA member

Bianca Pagdanganan struggled in the final round, but her closing six-over-par 78 was still good enough for a slot in next year’s LPGA Tour after winding up 38th through eight grueling rounds of the Q-Series at Pinehurst No. 9 in North Carolina on Saturday.

Starting the day with a lot of cushion being in 18th spot and the tournament giving away slots to the top 45 and ties, Pagdanganan crumbled under pressure and needed a par on the last hole for 576 overall. The cut was at 577.

She will spearhead the country in the 30th Southeast Asian Games later this month even as Dottie Ardina finished 10 rungs below and failed to make it after a 74 for 579.

Clarise Guce also skied to a 77 and wound up tied for 56th. Ardina and Guce settled for Symetra Tour spots.

China’s Muni He capped her run of under-par rounds throughout the Q-Series with a 71 and took low medalist honors with a 551, three strokes ahead of Korean Hee Young Park, who pooled a 554 after a 70 with American Yealimi Noh snatching third place with a 557 after a 69.

A bogey-free, eagle-spiked 64 in the pivotal sixth round put Pagdanganan, the Asian Games bronze medalist, in the mix and a scrambling 72 virtually assured her of an LPGA card Friday.

It was, however, a sorry finish for Ardina, who bogeyed two of the first six holes, recovered the strokes with birdies on Nos. 9 and 10 but dropped out of the cutoff line with another double-bogey on No. 11 and a bogey on No. 13.