INDIANA — Bianca Pagdanganan sizzled with a 69 to tie for 10th place, 10 shots away from the Korean leader Jiwon Jeon going into Sunday’s final round of the French Lick Charity Classic at Pie Dye Course.
The 25-year-old Filipina birdied the opening hole looking bent on recovering from the second round where she finished with a 76.
But just as quickly, she stumbled on the second hole. The Asian Games champ then got back with another birdie on the fourth only to bogey the 6th.
Fortunately, the rest of the round was smooth sailing, dropping three more birdies along the way (seventh, 14th and 18th).
She tied at four-under total China’s Michelle Zhang (71), Israel’s Laetitia Beck (74) and United States’ Mariah Stackhouse (72) and Karen Chung (73).
Another Filipino Dottie Ardina was at joint 18 after a 74, while Abegail Arevalo was tied for 41st following a 76.
Jiwon Jeon continued her impressive play, taking control of the lead with a six-under 66 in her third round. Jeon almost made it two rounds in a row without a bogey, but a wayward second shot on No. 17 gave her the first bogey since her sixteenth hole in the first round.
The Republic of Korea native will take a three-shot lead into the final round while trying to pick up her second victory of the season.
“I was just trying to stick to my game plan today,” Jeon said.
“This golf course is not easy, so I just tried to keep it in the fairways as much as possible. I did a great job of following my game plan and making some putts to go with it. It feels amazing to be leading going into the final round.”
With a win, Jeon will join Gabriela Ruffels and Jenny Bae as the only two-time winners on the Epson Tour this season.
To put Jeon’s play into perspective, the winning score last year was eight-under, and Jeon will enter the final round six shots clear of that total, highlighting just how impressive she has been.
“This is the first time I have held the lead going into the final round,” Jeon said.
Kristen Gillman did her best to chase down Jeon throughout the day, making eight birdies and posting the round of the day with a seven-under 65.
Gillman has had back-to-back good rounds, with a four-under round yesterday. The University of Alabama alumna has had the same aggressive mindset throughout the week, with the results coming to the forefront over the last 36 holes
Maddie McCrary sits alone in third, five shots back of the lead, but she definitely had the most colorful scorecard out of anyone. McCrary started her day one-over through two holes, then went eagle-ace and quickly moved to three-under for the round.
