Pagdanganan rally fizzles; Hoey struggles despite two eagles
MANILA, Philippines — Bianca Pagdanganan mounted one last charge Sunday (Monday Manila time) but squandered her chance to crack the top 10. She closed with a disappointing 72 after a costly bogey on the final hole to settle for a share of 15th in the Hartford HealthCare Women's Championship in Connecticut won by Christine Wang.
Needing a low round to climb the leaderboard, Pagdanganan instead stumbled out of the gates, dropping three shots over her first seven holes to slide from a tie for 11th to joint 29th. True to the resilience that has marked much of her career, however, the ICTSI-backed Filipina fought back with birdies on Nos. 8, 9 and 10 at the Golf Club of Avon, trimming the damage and briefly reviving hopes of a strong closing charge.
But the momentum proved short-lived.
Pagdanganan failed to capitalize on a number of birdie opportunities over the final eight holes, settling for pars before capping her round with another bogey on the 18th. The closing mistake handed her a one-over card — her highest score of the week after earlier rounds of 71, 70 and 69 — and left her with a 282 total, 11 shots behind Wang.
Wang clinched the title with a clutch birdie on the par-4 No. 16 en route to a 68 and a four-round aggregate of 271, edging Mirabel Ting by one stroke.
Ting mounted the tournament's fiercest final-round charge, firing a flawless 66 but running out of holes to finish at 272. Kaleiya Romero placed third at 275 after matching the week's best round of 64, highlighted by an eagle on the 16th.
Tomi Arejola also closed with a 72 to finish tied for 38th at 287, while Dottie Ardina never recovered from an opening-hole double bogey and limped home with a 74, dropping to a share of 51st at 288.
It was another frustrating week for the Filipina campaigners on the Epson Tour as they continued their search for top form and a victory.
They will get another opportunity in next week's Smoky Mountain Championship from August 6-8 at the Green Meadow Country Club in Alcoa, Tennessee, where Pagdanganan, Arejola and Ardina will spearhead another six-player Philippine contingent that also includes Clariss Guce, Pauline del Rosario and Sam Bruce, who will be looking to bounce back after missing the cut this week.
On the PGA Tour, Rico Hoey produced one of the week's rarest feats — making two eagles in a single round — but still came away empty-handed, settling for a second straight even-par 71 to finish tied for 62nd in the 3M Open won by rising star Jackson Koivun.
The big-hitting Filipino-American, whose campaign is supported by the world's leading port operator, entered the final round needing a low score to make a meaningful climb, but persistent struggles in setting up birdie opportunities prevented any sustained momentum.
After opening with five straight pars, Hoey finally caught fire on the par-5 sixth, reaching the green in two and converting a 23-foot eagle putt.
The spark, however, quickly faded.
He squandered an eight-foot birdie chance on the eighth before a disastrous stretch over the next two holes erased the gains. On the ninth, he found trouble after driving into the fairway but missing the green-side bunker shot twice, leading to a double-bogey. Another untidy sequence on the 10th resulted in another 6 after he drove into the native area and struggled to recover despite avoiding a penalty.
Hoey steadied himself with five consecutive pars before delivering another highlight on the 16th, holing out from 61 yards for his second eagle of the day. But even that spectacular shot could not ignite a late rally as he failed to birdie the reachable par-5 18th, missing a 20-foot putt and settling for a 35-36 card.
Koivun, meanwhile, completed a dream breakthrough. The 21-year-old rookie captured his first PGA Tour title in only his third start, closing with a bogey-free 66 for a tournament-record 25-under 259. A clutch birdie on the 16th helped him hold off world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who stormed home with a 63 but finished three strokes back at 262.
In LIV Golf United Kingdom, Miguel Tabuena continued his search for top form against the world's deepest field, carding another 73 to finish 50th after placing tied for 42nd in LIV Golf Andalucia.
Tabuena mixed three birdies with four bogeys for a five-over 283 total, again showing flashes of solid play but unable to sustain the consistency needed to contend against LIV Golf's world-class lineup.
Australia's Lucas Herbert left no room for drama, completing a wire-to-wire victory with a blistering 10-under 62 to finish at 30-under 258 and claim his second LIV Golf title. Herbert finished five shots ahead of Tyrrell Hatton, who closed with a 63 for 264, while Bryson DeChambeau slipped to third at 267 after a final-round 68.
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