RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. – When Bianca Pagdanganan teed up on the Symetra Tour last week, folks wanted to know if she’d lost her LPGA status. After all, she hadn’t played in a single event all year on the LPGA. How is that possible for a player who finished 60th on the money list last year?
Simple answer: COVID-19.
Given 2020’s shortened LPGA season and the fact that some players didn’t feel comfortable leaving home to compete during the pandemic, tour officials decided to freeze LPGA status. Pagdanganan, like every other rookie on tour, had to revert back to her original spot of 167th on the priority list.
As a result, Pagdanganan makes her first LPGA start of the year at a major. How is that possible? Officials did use the money list (top 80) for the ANA Inspiration. That’s how other fellow rookies like Yealimi Noh and Andrea Lee got in, too.
“I really understand this whole situation,” said Pagdanganan. “Making it mandatory for everyone to play last year is probably not the best thing you could’ve done. You wouldn’t want people to be uncomfortable out here. Trying to control what I can control, my emotions. You have to see the whole picture basically.”
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A mature perspective that was echoed by Lee, who once again started the season 160th on the priority list. While Pagdanganan hasn’t had any success at Monday qualifiers this year, Lee Monday-qualified at the Gainbridge LPGA at Lake Nona and then received a sponsor exemption into last week’s Kia. She has another exemption lined up for the LPGA stop in Los Angeles at Wilshire Country Club, where Lee is an honorary member.
“The game feels good,” said Lee, who finished 48th on the money list last year. Lee played in the ANA three times as an amateur and last year as a professional. She has yet to make the cut.
Meanwhile, Pagdanganan makes her debut at the ANA this week. Her first major championship appearance came at last year’s KPMG, where she tied for ninth.
While Pagdanganan is new to this event, she’s not new to Mission Hills. The Arizona grad won the first stage of Q-School in 2019, which is staged over two courses. Pagdanganan shot 67-68 at the Dinah Shore Tournament Course and finished 13 under overall for the tournament.
One hole in particular stands out. With no grandstands or wall behind the 18th green this year, the most iconic hole on the LPGA is playing exactly how Pagdanganan played it two years ago.
After she crushed a drive on the closing par-5 18th at Q-School, Pagdanganan, the longest player on the LPGA in 2021, pulled a hybrid from 235 yards. Her dad, Sam, was on that bag that week and advised her to aim at the palm trees in the middle of the green. Bianca, however, had other ideas.
“OK dad, palm trees is cool, but in my head I had already pictured what I wanted to do,” said Pagdanganan, “which was to fade the ball in the middle and let it trickle down a little bit. So I hit the shot and it was fading a bit and I could feel the stress. But then I stuck it to maybe 10 to 12 feet and made the eagle.”
Perhaps a sign of things to come.