SWINGING IN PARIS

Philippine golf will definitely be represented in the Paris Olympics.

The only question is: How many athletes?

National Golf Association of the Philippines secretary general Bones Floro yesterday assured that a Filipino golfer will be in action when the golf events of the Summer Games start swinging at the Le Golf National in Paris on 1 August.

For one, Bianca Pagdanganan is “unofficially qualified” for the Olympics.

In the Rolex World Rankings, Pagdanganan is at No. 138 after competing in various LPGA events like the JM Eagle, Chevron Championship, T-Mobile Match Play, and Ford Championship.

But in the Olympic Rankings, the 26-year-old Pagdanganan is at No. 37, which means that she is safely inside the top 60 cut-off for Paris.

The Olympic Rankings — not the Rolex World Rankings — will be used by the International Golf Federation in determining who will be the 60 players in the Summer Games.

Based on the Olympic Rankings, the top 15 players in the world are qualified but with a maximum of four players per country. Outside the top 15, only a maximum of two players per country that does not have two or more players in the top 15.

Nelly Korda of the United States is on top of the Olympic Rankings while Lilia Wu of the US, Celine Boutier of France, Yin Ruoning of China, Ko Jin young of South Korea, and Brooke Henderson of Canada round out the top five.

The cut-off date for making it to the top 60 of the Olympic Rankings is set in the third week of June.

“Bianca is ‘unofficially qualified’ and we had already encoded her name in the system,” Floro told Daily Tribune in a short message, referring to Pagdanganan who will make a return trip to the Summer Games after finishing 43rd in the Tokyo Games in 2021.

“Not to jinx her, but she doesn’t need to come up with ‘super results’ in the coming weeks to qualify in the Olympics. She’s already in and safely inside the top 60 and has to wait until the cut-off date in the third of June to make it official.”

Floro said if stars align, Pagdanganan might have a company in the Summer Games.

Miguel Tabuena, also a former Olympian, is at No. 407 in the Rolex World Rankings but is a second reserve player in the men’s division while Dottie Ardina is at No. 315 in the Rolex World Rankings but is the first reserve in the women’s division.

Floro said should somebody inside the top 60 backs out of the Olympics, Tabuena and Ardina and other reserve players will be given the green light to compete.

“They are replacement players in the event that there are withdrawals of qualified athletes,” Floro explained, adding that Filipino-American Rico Hoey could have represented the Philippines but the IGF denied their request for his eligibility.

“But what I can say is that there will be a Filipino — or Filipinos — competing in Paris.”