Birdie caps Bianca’s shaky start

Bianca Pagdanganan capped a forgettable round with a birdie in the LPGA Founders Cup at Bradenton Country Club in Florida on Thursday.

The 27-year-old two-time Olympian opened the new season with five-over-par 76, her round marred by two bogeys and a pair of double bogeys in the back nine.

She reached the turn on even par after mixing two birdies with the same number of bogeys.

Then her game went south coming home. She double-bogeyed 10, dropped shots on 11 and 14 before making her second double bogey on 15.

Denmark’s Nanna Koerstz Madsen and American Jennifer Kupcho both carded six-under-par 65s to share the lead.

Kupcho closed with three birdies in the final six holes, while Madsen birdied two of her last three holes.

“I was really pleased with my round,” Madsen said. “My iron game was the strongest part of my game, and I made some good putts here and there.”

“The biggest key for me is staying mentally strong — just staying positive and not letting bad shots get to my head,” she added.

Madsen, 30, claimed her first LPGA victory at the 2022 LPGA Thailand event, where she defeated China’s Lin Xiyu with an eagle on the second playoff hole. She also won the 2016 Tipsport Masters on the Ladies European Tour.

Kupcho, 27, is aiming for her fourth LPGA title, and her first since 2022, when she triumphed at the Chevron Championship, the Meijer LPGA Classic, and the Great Lakes Bay Invitational pairs event alongside Lizette Salas.

“I played pretty solid today,” Kupcho said. “I hit the ball well and managed to adjust when I needed to. It just felt like everything was going right.”

Madsen, starting from the back nine, strung together five consecutive birdies beginning at the 16th hole. After bogeys at the third and fifth holes, she made a birdie at the par-3 seventh, another at the par-5 eighth, and a par on the par-3 ninth to close out her round.

“There’s a lot of space off the tee, which really suited me,” Madsen explained. “It was overall a really solid round.”

Kupcho birdied the second hole but made her only bogey at the third. She then rallied with birdies at the par-5 sixth and par-3 ninth, followed by birdies on the 11th, 13th, 15th and 16th holes before finishing with two pars.

“My ball flights were great today,” Kupcho said. “I switched golf balls in the offseason, and it was nice to see the consistency of the ball, especially in the wind.”

Americans Angel Yin and Lauren Coughlin, along with South Korea’s Im Jin-hee, were one shot behind at 66.

Top-ranked Nelly Korda, who won last year at her hometown course, shot 68 and was tied for 12th.