Pagdanganan tied for seventh after firing 69 in opening round; Saso with 3-over par

Philippine golf bets Bianca Pagdanganan and Yuka Saso had contrasting performances in their maiden stint at the women's individual stroke event of the Tokyo Olympics Wednesday at the Kasumigaseki Country Club.

Pagdanganan, 23, was off to a hot start after she birdied holes one and two but followed it with a bogey on the fourth. The budding golfer birdied once more on the 5th, 14th, and 16th holes.

She ended the first round hitting 10 pars for 69, or 2-under par. Pagdanganan finishyed the round in a nine-way tie for seventh place, in a group that includes Wei-Ling Hsu of Chinese Taipei  and South Korea's Sei Young Kim and Inbee Park.

Meanwhile, it was a different case for the debuting Saso.

The 20-year-old golf ace immediately bogeyed the second and sixth holes but a birdie on the fifth kept her in pace.

Saso, the 2021 US Women's Open champion, continued to struggle in the succeeding holes after she had bogeys on 11th, 16th, and 17th holes.

She capped off the day hitting 11 pars for a 3-over 74. Saso ended up tied for 47th to 53rd places alongside several other competitors, such as Alena Sharp of Canada, Anne Dame of Netherlands, Shanshan Feng of China, and Kim Metraux of Switzerland.

Second round of women's play is slated for Thursday morning, August 5.

—MGP, GMA News