MARATHON CLASSIC PRESENTED BY DANA

August 7, 2020

Bianca Pagdanganan

Quick Quotes

Q. All right, so quite the round for an LPGA rookie. Take us through what happened there at 17 and 18.

BIANCA PAGDANGANAN: 17 does 18, I don't know what happened. I feel like I kind of just flipped the switch and I hit a really good tee shot on 17. I think it was 230 yards, so I thought it was a good number, I could go for the pin or maybe just like land it in front and roll it, and that's exactly what I did.

I think I had a 10-foot putt for eagle.

I mean, throughout the whole round today I felt pretty confident with my putting. Yeah, I dropped the putt and I was like, Okay, that's a good eagle. I needed something to get me going.

Then the next hole, 18 I thought I didn't hit my best tee shot. I hit a draw. But then I got a lucky bounce, but I was in a good spot. I was in the first cut. I think I was left with 177. Used a 7-iron and then i stuck it again to another ten feet.

Then I felt pretty confident from the last hole. So I was like, Okay, let's keep it going, and then i just dropped the putt. From then on I felt a lot more confident throughout the round. I felt more calm and just relaxed.

So I think I did pretty good.

Q. I don't know if you know this, but that's the 23rd time in history that that's ever happened on the LPGA Tour. How cool is that, to know it doesn't happen every single day?

BIANCA PAGDANGANAN: That's pretty cool. I'm turning 23 this year, so what are the odds? (Laughter.) That's so cool. That's also the first time it's ever happened to me, back to back eagle. I was like, Oh, that's pretty rare. Of course I just like had to keep my cool throughout the round. Couldn't just let that take over.

I was able to calm myself down and just hold on to that.

Q. I know last week was your first event of the 2020 season as an LPGA Tour rookie. What was it like during the last few months not being able to compete, and what did you do with you your time before getting ready to compete again?

BIANCA PAGDANGANAN: Oh, that was definitely a lot of time. I think the last competitive event that I've had was probably in January, so it's been a long time. Throughout those couple months I just like practiced a lot, worked out. I just tried to focus on getting stronger both physically and mentally.

I'm not going to lie. I was a bit nervous coming back into like the competitive mode. But, I mean, for the most part, that's what I love about golf. But not having that for a couple months, I was pretty nervous. And Inverness being the first tournament for my like my rookie year, literally was my first event ever, I was pretty nervous.

Then I don't know, I think you just have to believe in yourself and know that you're here for a reason.

Q. Kristen Gillman almost said those exact words today, saying to believe in yourself and everything like that.

Did you do anything else besides the quarantine? When did it become real that your LPGA season was kicking off again?

BIANCA PAGDANGANAN: Oh, my gosh, it was probably, I don't know, like three weeks before the event. I kept looking at the poral and I was like, I think I'm in this event. Because like, I don't know, with the quarantine you'd expect a lot of people to play, so I wasn't really expecting anything.

I was just like, I'm just going to sign up for events, and if I get in I'll take advantage of that I'll play. And when I saw that, I was like pretty sure that I was in the event. I was just like, Oh, my gosh. Like I was nervous. Like the first night where I knew it was official I couldn't sleep.

I was like, Oh, my gosh. I'm actually going to make my debut. Like this is real. Yeah, that is pretty much it. It was just golf and working out and Call of Duty.

Q. What did you learn about your game after Inverness gearing up for this event at Highland Meadows?

BIANCA PAGDANGANAN: What I did learn? I guess, I mean, being the aggressive player that I am, you have to suck it up sometimes and just be conservative if you really want to play a good round. You can't just go for every pin.

That's definitely what I learned at Inverness. Inverness was such a tough course. I learned that pars are great and that bogeys are okay, as long as you can bounce back.

I think it's all about getting back on track and bouncing back, which is exactly with what I did. Like throughout this round today, I don't know, I felt a little off throughout the first few holes, and then like I said, I flipped the switch and I just made two Eagles in a row.

I was like, Okay, let do this. It's not over yet, so let's keep going. So, yeah.

Q. I know it's a little difficult. Inverness is a completely different golf courses to the way Highland Meadows is set up.

BIANCA PAGDANGANAN: Yeah.

Q. What you do to mentally to prepare for this week's event?

BIANCA PAGDANGANAN: I mean, I played this event two years ago, so at least I was a little familiar with the course. I don't know, just going through the practice round, like just observing how I'm going to play it.

Like you said, it's a very different golf course. I just had to make sure that I had a plan on each and every hole just to feel confident throughout this week.