MANILA, Philippines – Filipina golfer Bianca Pagdanganan has seen a meteoric rise in her world ranking, boosted by a pair of impressive finishes in the LPGA Tour.

Pagdanganan notched a year-best No. 160 in the latest world ranking released on Monday, October 9, as she secured top-three finishes in her last two tournaments.

Ending the month of September at No. 314, Pagdanganan moved up 81 spots to No. 233 after landing joint third in the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.

The long ball hitter then concluded her campaign in The Ascendant LPGA Benefiting Volunteers of America over the weekend in Texas at joint second to climb 73 spots to No. 160 in the rankings.

Pagdanganan ended The Ascendant in a tie with world No. 13 Atthaya Thitikul of Thailand as they finished four shots behind world No. 6 Kim Hyo-joo of South Korea.

“Overall, it just feels really good to see that all the time that I’m putting in is paying off,” said Pagdanganan, who failed to make the cut in three of her first eight events of the year.

Posting her career-high finish in the Ascendant LPGA, Pagdanganan sunk six birdies on the back nine as she carded a 9-under par 275 – highlighting her improved short game.

“I know that I really, really have to work on my short game. My long game is there, but it really is not anything without the short game,” said Pagdanganan.

“”Short game is pretty much everything in this sport, so I’ve been putting in more time with chipping, putting, everything around the green.”

Pagdanganan also came out of the last two tournaments richer, pocketing over $250,000 (approximately P14.5 million).

The top five of the USA’s Lilia Vu, China’s Yin Ruoning, South Korea’s Ko Jin-young, USA’s Nelly Korda, and France’s Celine Boutier remained unchanged. – Rappler.com