Bianca Pagdanganan carded a one-under-par 71 to advance to the third round while defending champion Yuka Saso and Dottie Ardina missed the cut in the US Women’s Open Presented by Promedica in Southern Pines, North Carolina Friday (Saturday in Manila).
Pagdanganan bucked a double bogey on the 14th and a bogey on the 17th with four birdies to tally a two-round total of 145, 12 strokes behind co-leaders Minjee Lee and Mina Harigae.
Saso missed the cut by six strokes and Ardina by only two after they posted 74 and 69, respectively.
The 20-year-old Saso, who had a first-round 77, couldn’t gain her composure by stumbling into six bogeys and three birdies.
She finished with a two-round aggregate of 151 at joint 121st.
Ardina, for her part, slightly regained her form after a disastrous first-round 78, but it was still not enough to advance to the third round.
She bogeyed the par-4 seventh hole, but shot birdies on the eighth, 10th and 16th.
Meanwhile, Lee caught up with Harigae atop the leaderboard after firing six birdies against a lone bogey for 66 and a 133 total.
After a fiery opening 64, Harigae, for her part, held her ground with a 69 on five birdies against three bogeys.