Bianca Pagdanganan heads to Paris Olympics in full swing

Three years ago, Bianca Pagdanganan became the one of the first Filipina golfers to ever set foot at the Olympics when she and Yuka Saso swung their way to the pandemic-hit Tokyo Games in 2021. 

Then just a 23-year-old budding golfer, Pagdanganan impressed early but still fell short in the end to mark her Olympics debut alongside Saso and another golfer in Juvic Pagunsan for the men's side. 

However, Pagdanganan once again swung her way to the Summer Games and this time around, she is well-equipped to take on the biggest stage of them all and conquer Paris with, hopefully, a medal hanging in her neck by its end. 

Podium ready

Pagdanganan has been turning heads since her early days in the sport, but it was in the 2018 Asian Games when she put her name in the map after teaming up with Saso and Lois Kaye Go to rule the women's team event. She then went on winning the bronze in the individual event while Saso copped the gold. 

Pagdanganan, who once helped University of Arizona to win the NCAA Division I championship in 2018, once again showed off in the 2019 SEA Games here, seizing two gold medals. 

Two years later, Pagdanganan would make her Olympics debut after qualifying for Tokyo with Saso and Pagunsan. She fired hard in the first round to make it to the top ten with a 2-under par outing. 

However, Pagdanganan who is a former Philippine Junior amateur Open winner in 2014, lost steam in the following rounds to end her campaign at joint 43rd place. 

Now, she's dead set to eclipse what she had shown in Tokyo as she marches to her second straight appearance alongside Dottie Ardina, with both athletes eyeing to swing their way to glory. 

After her Tokyo finish, Pagdanganan went back to the drawing board and busied herself with everything that could help her complete a redemption tour in Paris, competing in a number of Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tournaments. 

Recently, she emerged as the 35th among 60 players to qualify for the upcoming Summer Games in the French capital. 

Now, meet her foes

The road to the top, however, won't be a cakewalk for Pagdanganan once she struts her stuff at the Le Golf National. 

She will go up against no less than Saso, who is now representing Japan, and is currently ranked 10th in the Olympic rankings ahead of the tournament. 

Saso actually had a bad start to her Tokyo campaign but her composure allowed her to crack her way to the top 10 rankings with an outstanding 10-under par 274 total finish. Saso, the reigning two-time US Open titleholder, will shoot for the gold this time around. 

Also coming back is Nelly Korda of the USA. The 25-year-old golfer fired a 17-under par 267 to seize the Tokyo gold medal, which she plans to retain when she returns to the Paris Games. 

Another American in Lilia Vu will make her Olympic debut after having ranked second in Olympic rankings after a breakthrough 2023 that saw her win the Women's British Open

South Korea's Ko Jin-young, who wound up joint fourth last Tokyo, boasts a twin runner-up finishes in the 2020 US Women's Open and Women's PGA Championship as she returns to the Olympic stage. 

—JKC, GMA Integrated News