Bianca remains in contention

Bianca Pagdanganan came back in time to stay in contention with a one-under 71 after three rounds of the Maybank Championships on Saturday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

It looked as Pagdanganan as off to a solid finish after birdying the opening hole at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club’s West Course, but she immediately found herself bungling on the second and wound up with a double bogey on the par-5 fifth hole which she birdied in the second round.

Her front nine showing shoved her outside the Top 10, leaving the trio of Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul, China’s Ruoning Yin and Korea’s Haeran Ryu occupying the top spot.

Pagdanganan somehow regained her form in the back nine by shooting birdies on the ninth, 12th, 13th and 15th en route to a total score of nine-under 207 going into the final round of the $3-million event.

The leaders are holding identical 200 cards heading in to the fourth round with similar 64s.

Japanese Yuka Saso, who formerly represented the Philippines and backed by ICTSI like Pagdanganan, is bunched at 25th at 209.