Pagdanganan beams with pride after strong finish in Olympic golf

MANILA, Philippines — Filipina golfer Bianca Pagdanganan took pride in giving her 100% in the Paris Olympic golf tournament, even though she barely missed the podium after Saturday’s final round.

Pagdanganan clawed back from being joint-13th at the end of the third day to being on the cusp of a podium finish in the Olympics.

She finished her final round at six-under par 282, at joint-fifth, and a shot behind Germany’s Esther Henseleit, China’s Lin Xiyu and Japan’s Miyu Yamashita with a few holes to go.

After Henseleit rose to eight-under, and Lin had a bogey in the 17th hole, Pagdanganan was suddenly at joint-third and had a chance for a playoff.

However, the Chinese linksman finished with a birdie on her final hole to grab the bronze medal.

“I gave it my all there, it was still a tough day, made a couple errors which, you know, it stings but knowing that I was able to give my hundred percent, gave my everything, it’s like it’s all that I can do,” an emotional Pagdanganan said after the golf competition.

“Whatever happens at the end of the day happens. Like I said, knowing that I gave my best it’s really all that I could have hoped for,” she added.

Pagdanganan’s joint-fourth is the highest finish of a Filipino golfer in the Olympics ever.

The 26-year-old said that she wanted to put the Philippines’ name up there with the best golfers in the world.

“It just means a lot. I’m able to represent the Philippines on such a big stage, competing with the best players in the world and I don’t know how else to put it, I really wanted it, I want our name up there, I want them to know that we’re great athletes,” she said.

“And this isn’t just for golf. We’ve excelled with other sports and I think it’s a great wake-up call back home that we can excel in sports so if we can just find someone to support, that would be great,” she added.

“But I guess that’s why I feel a lot about this, it means a lot and like I’ve sacrificed so much for this career and there’s no other way to put it, I wanted it so bad and I really did my best.”

She is also elated with how she performed under pressure, knowing how big of a deficit she had to climb to get a shot at the medals.

“I wanted to get up there, try to give it a run. But who knows. I want a huge improvement and I wanna make my country proud and I did everything,” she stressed.

“I really feel proud of how I performed in such extreme pressure knowing that I can handle myself in those situations, it should be a great motivation.”

Back in Tokyo in the 2021 edition of the Games, Pagdanganan finished 43rd.

Fellow Filipina Dottie Ardina also had a strong finish on Saturday with a three-under par 285 to end up at joint-13th.

The Philippines ended its Paris Olympics campaign with two gold medals and two bronze medals, its highest finish ever in 100 years.