MANILA – Bianca Pagdanganan stayed in the medal hunt in the women’s golf event of the Paris Olympics as Day 2 of the four-round tournament commenced at the Le Golf National on Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024.
Pagdanganan bounced back from her even Day 1 with a three-under-par 69 stint on Day 2 to move up to a six-way tie for sixth place, which included erstwhile leader Celine Boutier.
Boutier misfired midway into the back nine as she conceded bogeys in three straight holes, including double bogeys in Holes 13 and 15, to finish the second round with a four-over-par 76, which dropped her to three-under-par 141 in total.
World No. 137 Morgane Metraux is the surprise new frontrunner after a sensational front nine in which she scored two eagles in Holes 3 and 9, both Par 5s.
She bogeyed in three holes in the back nine to settle for a six-under-par 66 for the day, but after Boutier’s struggles, Metraux is now solely on top with an eight-under-par 136 total.
World No. 5 Yin Ruoning of China also banked on an impressive Day 2 to go second with seven-under-par 137, while New Zealand’s Lydia Ko is now third, also thanks to a solid Round 2 with a five-under-par 139, just one ahead of joint fourth placers Mariajo Uribe and Pia Babnik and two ahead of Pagdanganan and Boutier along with four others.
Babnik rose to the occasion in the second round as she got out of the red zone with a six-under-par 66 to even go ahead of Pagdanganan and Boutier.
Dottie Ardina, the other Filipina bet, finished even par 72 to stay four over par two days in, but as things stand, despite moving up to a tie for 36th place, her hopes of snatching a medal are now bleak.
Two-time US Open champion Yuka Saso continued to struggle as she went over par again on Day 2 to drop to seven-over-par 151, joining a five-way tie for 47th place.
Meanwhile, Elreen Ando came close to landing a medal in the women’s 59kg weightlifting event at the South Paris Arena.
Ando, who tied her personal best in the snatch with a 100kg lift and set a new one in the clean-and-jerk with a 130kg lift, ended up in a tie for fourth with Venezuela’s Anyelin Venegas and Nigeria’s Rafiatu Lawal at 230 kg total, just five off erstwhile champion Kuo Hsing-Chun of Chinese Taipei, who settled for the bronze this time.
After the tiebreaker was made, Ando settled for sixth place.
In a showdown that saw the Olympic record in the snatch broken multiple times minutes apart, China’s Luo Shifang reigned supreme with a 241kg total, itself an Olympic record.
She ended up with the final Olympic record for the snatch after lifting 107 kg while finishing with 134 in the C&J, also an Olympic record.
Kuo tried to keep the championship to herself after announcing she would go for 137 kg in her final lift after clearing 130 on her second try, but she failed to complete the lift.
Pagdanganan and Vanessa Sarno loom as the Philippines’ last hopes to end its already historic Paris Olympics campaign at the podium.
Pagdanganan will try to stay within medal contention in the last two rounds of the golf event this weekend, while Sarno will compete in the women’s 71kg weightlifting event early Saturday (Philippine time). / PNA