Bianca Pagdanganan and Dottie Ardina will once again try to break through in the LPGA this weekend, competing in the $3-million Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.
The Filipino Olympians, looking for their first victory in the Tour, vie for honors at the Pinnacle Country Club at Rogers, Arkansas.
Pagdanganan, whose best showing this year was T7 at Mizuho Americas, was to tee off 12:15 p.m. Friday local time at Hole No. 1 along with German Aline Krauter and China’s Jing Yan.
Ardina is bunched with German Caroline Masson and Korean Jeongeun Lee in the 7:37 a.m. flight.
Philippine-born Japanese Yuka Saso was to have an 8:32 a.m. tee off along with former No. 1 Lilia Vu of the United States and World No. 15 Lauren Coughlin also of the U.S.
Defending champion Haeran Ryu of Korea is paired with Thai Jeeno Thitikul and Japanese Nasa Hataoka.
Ten of the top 20 players in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings are set to compete in the 54-hole meet.
The second stop on a brief Midwest run of events in the fall, the LPGA has been coming to Pinnacle Country Club since 2007.
The average winning score in the tourney over the past five years is 18-under, heightening anticipation of low scores.
Pinnacle Country Club has water in play on 15 of the 18 holes. There are 62 bunkers to avoid, and the greens average just about 6,000 square feet in size.
Accuracy will be the key as some of the best players in the world, the 144 athletes in this week’s field are very precise. The course features favor their strengths
To get inside the last two top 10s, players averaged 16.5 sub-par scores over 54 holes. That’s more than five birdies per round to reach the top of the leaderboard.
Ryu, Coughlin and Saso are the most prolific scorers in this field. Ryu and Coughlin have both had great summers, and Saso showed some savvy last week in Cincinnati after finishing fourth, her first top 10 since winning the US Women’s Open in early June.