Bianca is going to Paris not in the best of forms, but don’t count out the big-hitting Filipina

Bianca Pagdanganan

PHOTO: AP

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Get to know the 22 Filipino athletes bound for the 2024 Paris Olympics through SPIN.ph’s pre-Games preview. Third of a series]

BIANCA Pagdanganan will be one of two Philippines entries in women’s golf at the 2024 Paris Games and it will be her second shot at Olympic glory.

But unlike in Tokyo in 2020, she won’t have Yuka Saso by her side since the two-time US Women’s Open champion is now a Japanese citizen. Instead she’ll be with Dottie Ardina, who has swung between the LPGA and lower tours in recent years.

PHOTO BY: AP

The 26-year old was 35th in the Olympic rankings, which are designed to spread the the spots to more nations as possible. In the rankings that matter, Pagdanganan is No. 118 in the world and No. 92 in the LPGA where she has one Top 10 finish and four missed cuts in 13 tournaments this season.

She also didn’t have the most pleasant experience in her Olympic debut back in 2019 in Tokyo, where she finished tied 43rd after a final-round three-over card and a double bogey at the last at the Kasumigaseki Country Club.

But that doesn’t mean Pagdanganan doesn’t stand a chance at a medal when she and Ardina tee it up at Le Golf National.

Golf, you see, is one sport where there are no real underdogs.

Unlike in other sports where the seedings and formcharts often hold, golf is such a fickle sport that one good round, one run of good form can lead to the most unexpected victory and one bad shot can spell the end, even for reigning world No. 1 and defending Olympic champion Nelly Korda of the US,

With Pagdanganan, it helps that she happens to be one of the longest hitters the women’s game has ever seen, leading the LPGA rankings for average distance off the tee for a long time and currently at No. 4 this season at 274 yards.

So if she can get her game going at Le Golf National – a famous tournament course that hosted the 2018 Ryder Cup and every French Open since 1991 – and get her putts to drop, there’s no reason to believe she can’t win.