Bianca Isabel Pagdanganan (born 28 October 1997) is a Filipino

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

. As an amateur, she was a dual medalist in the

2018 Asian Games The 2018 Asian Games ( or ''Asian Games 2018''), officially known as the 18th Asian Games (), and also known as Jakarta-Palembang 2018 or Indonesia 2018, were a Asia, continental multi-sport event that was held from 18 August to 2 September 201 ...

, winning a bronze in the women's individual event, and a gold medal in the team event with

Yuka Saso (born 20 June 2001) is a Japanese professional golfer. Saso was born in the Philippines, competing for them through 2021, having won the first ever gold medal for the Philippines in both women's individual and women's team event in Asian Games ...

and Lois Kaye Go.

Early life and education

A native of

Quezon City Quezon City (, ; ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read and pronounced in Filipino language, Filipino as Kyusi), is the richest and List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 c ...

, Pagdanganan was born on 28 October 1997 to Sam and Bing Pagdanganan and has two siblings. She attended the

Assumption Antipolo Assumption Antipolo (abbreviated: AA) is a private, Catholic, all-girls basic education institution run by the Religious of the Assumption in the city of Antipolo, Rizal, Philippines. It was established by the Assumption sisters in 1974. Histo ...

graduating from the institution in 2015. In 2015, Pagdanganan entered the

Gonzaga University Gonzaga University (GU) ( ) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in Spokane, Washington, United States. It is Higher education accreditation in the United States, accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges ...

in the United States to pursue a major degree in sports management. After two years at Gonzaga, Pagdanganan transferred to the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

Amateur career

Pagdanganan was influenced by her father to take up golf. Her father would bring her along his golf sessions during the weekends.

Collegiate

From 2015 to 2017, Pagdanganan played for the golf team of

. She later represented the

and helped the

Arizona Wildcats The Arizona Wildcats are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Arizona, located in Tucson, Arizona, Tucson. The Wildcats compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I (NCAA Divis ...

clinch the 2018

NCAA Division I Women's Golf Championships The NCAA Division I Women's Golf Championship, played in the month of May, is the annual competition in women's collegiate golf for individuals and teams from universities in Division I. Golf was one of twelve women's sports added to the NCAA cha ...

. Her teammates dubbed her as "The Unicorn" for her skills in golf, particularly her long-driving ability. She intends to pursue a professional career in golf after graduating from university.

National

Prior to moving to the United States, Pagdanganan has competed in national youth tournaments in the Philippines. She won the 2014 Philippine Junior Amateur Open, was a low medalist in the stroke play portion of the 2013 Philippine Amateur Open, and won the 2013 Philippine Ladies Open. She also placed second in the 2012 PHILEX Northern Luzon Regional Amateur Golf Championship and 2013 Philippine Amateur Championship.

International

Internationally, Pagdanganan competes for the Philippines. In the

, she clinched a bronze medal in the women's event and a gold medal in the team event with

and Lois Kaye Go. At the

2019 Southeast Asian Games The 2019 Southeast Asian Games, officially known as the 30th Southeast Asian Games, or the 30th SEA Games, and commonly known as Philippines 2019, were the 30th edition of the SEA Games, Southeast Asian Games, a biennial regional multi-sport ...

, she won individual and team gold medals. At the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

in Tokyo, Pagdanganan ranked 43rd. She later competed at the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

in Paris, where she finished at a joint fourth place with a total stroke count of 282, the best ranking achieved by a Filipino golfer at the Olympics.

Professional career

Pagdanganan turned professional in January 2020. She earned her

LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly ...

card through the LPGA

Q-Series In the mathematical field of combinatorics, the ''q''-Pochhammer symbol, also called the ''q''-shifted factorial, is the product (a;q)_n = \prod_^ (1-aq^k)=(1-a)(1-aq)(1-aq^2)\cdots(1-aq^), with (a;q)_0 = 1. It is a ''q''-analog of the Pochhamme ...

in November 2019.

Amateur wins

*2014 Philippine Junior Amateur Open *2017 Philippine Ladies Open, Branch Law Firm-Dick McGuire *2018 Santi Cup *2019 Hawkeye El Tigre Invitational, Southeast Asian Games (gold medal) Source:

Results in LPGA majors

''Results not in chronological order.'' CUT = missed the half-way cut
NT = no tournament
T = tied

World ranking

Position in

Women's World Golf Rankings The Women's World Golf Rankings, also known for sponsorship reasons as the Rolex Rankings, were introduced in February 2006. They are sanctioned by 12 women's golf tours and the organisations behind them: Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPG ...

at the end of each calendar year.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pagdanganan, Bianca Filipino female golfers LPGA Tour golfers Gonzaga Bulldogs women's golfers Arizona Wildcats women's golfers Olympic golfers for the Philippines Golfers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Golfers at the 2024 Summer Olympics Asian Games gold medalists for the Philippines Asian Games bronze medalists for the Philippines Asian Games gold medalists in golf Asian Games bronze medalists in golf Golfers at the 2018 Asian Games Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games SEA Games gold medalists for the Philippines SEA Games medalists in golf Competitors at the 2019 SEA Games Expatriate golfers in the United States Filipino expatriates in the United States Sportspeople from Quezon City 1997 births Living people