Yuka, Bianca play three tourneys before Olympics
Yuka Saso and Bianca Pagdanganan will leave nothing to chance in getting ready for the Olympics as the Philippine bets in women’s golf are both booked to compete in three tournaments before arriving in Japan. Golf will be played in the Summer Games at the Kasumigaseki Country Club in Saitama with the men scheduled on July 29-Aug. 1 and the women on Aug. 4-7. Saso and Pagdanganan are set to land in Tokyo a week before they tee off.
Saso, 20, said she played the Kasumigaseki course on the JLPGA tour last year but it was under winter and rain conditions. Playing in the summer will be more suitable, she added. Saso will play the Marathon Classic in Sylvania, Ohio, on July 8-11, the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational in Midland, Michigan on July 14-17 and the Amundi Evian Championships in Evian-les-Bains, France, on July 22-25 then head for Tokyo with her father Masakazu.
Pagdanganan, 23, is competing in the Volunteers of America Texas Shootout at the Old America Golf Club in The Colony, Dallas this weekend. She will join Saso in the Ohio and Michigan tournaments before flying to Tokyo with her father Sam. The Pagdanganans are based in Temecula, California.
Pagdanganan said she never imagined to make it to the Olympics so soon after golf was reinstated in the calendar in 2016. She was still at Assumption Antipolo High School when playing in the Olympics became a dream. Pagdanganan was introduced to golf by her father when she was seven. At 11, Pagdanganan started taking lessons from coach Carito Villaroman. To this day, Villaroman remains her swing coach and she often consults the 52-year-old pro, either virtually or personally. Known for her long drives, Pagdanganan said she still has lots to improve, particularly her putting. She made headlines when as a Gonzaga University sophomore in 2017, she made a hole-in-one enroute to carding an 11-under-61 to tie the NCAA record for the lowest 18-hole round. After transferring to the University of Arizona, Pagdanganan posted another hole-in-one in 2018 to tow the varsity to the NCAA championship.
Both ICTSI-backed golfers have won double golds in the individual and team events for the Philippines. Saso did it at the 2018 Asian Games while Pagdanganan’s feat came in the 2019 SEA Games. They said family support has been key to their success. Saso is the oldest of five while Pagdanganan is the youngest of three. In an interview on PlayItRight TV, Saso said after the Olympics, she plans to compete all over the world and learn from the best in Asia, Europe and the US.
(From The Philippine Star)
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