Overnight leader and local favorite Bianca Pagdanganan shot a final-round 71 to claim the victory at the ICTSI Anvaya Cove Ladies International, a TLPGA Tour and LPGT (Ladies Philippine Golf Tour) co-sanctioned event, at the Anvaya Cove Golf & Sports Club on Friday.

The 25-year-old Filipino started the round on Friday with an impressive six-shot cushion over Taiwan’s Chang Ya-Chun (張雅淳) and Thailand’s Kawinpakorn Pakin, and she never faced any real challenge as she cruised through the finish line making three birdies and two bogeys in the final round to seal the deal at 9-under 207.

Pakin (71) and first-round leader, compatrioit P.K. Kongkraphan (70) closed the week in equal second place at 3-under 213. Kongkraphan concluded the 2022 season as the no.1 on the money list on her home tour.

2022 TLPGA Tour’s year-end no.1 player Chang Ya-Chun carded a 2-over 74, dropping into a tie for fifth with fellow Taiwanese Huang Ching (黃靖) (69), Tseng Tsai-Ching (曾彩晴) (68), and Thai player Meechai Kusuma at 216.

Tseng used five birdies and one bogey to record a low-round 68, which helped her to rise into the top-5. Also shooting 68 was Thai player Jaengkit Chorphaka, who finished in solo fourth place.

“I don’t know. I feel I was more focused. I believe my good fairway percentage was key, which helped me to have a better look at the flags and gain many opportunities,” Tseng said, who just graduated from the University of Tulsa last year and turned pro in November. “I didn’t take out my driver as much as in the previous rounds, hoping to cut down the risks, and it worked well for me. And my putter was feeling better, too. In fact, my brother, who is my caddie this week, so often had different opinions with me on the greens during the past two days, but today, we were seeing things kind of in the same way finally and working so well together. We made a lot of birdies.” Highlight of her day was an 18-footer on the 3rd hole which kickstarted her birdie parade.

Huang Ching made a brilliant save on the 7th hole where she chipped it in from eight yards to make par, but couldn’t do it again when facing another crisis on the 8th hole, which erased her birdie effort on the 5th as she arrived at the turn still at 3-over par.

However, Huang turned up a different player after the turn, draining birdie putts on the 11th, 12th, and 15th to bring it back to even par and finish in a tie for fifth. She needed just 27 putts today.

“I’m planning to play some more events this year on the China LPGA Tour and the Epson Tour. I hope I will be able to raise my world ranking into the top 400, so that I can play in the LPGA Tour’s qualifying tournament at the end of the year,” Huang said.

A major setback on the par-5 10th killed all the slim hopes of winning Chang Ya-Chun still had. She was caught by the water twice and left the hole with a triple-bogey. However, she remained positive and still earned a top-5 finish in her first oversea venture in 2023. “I think I can take lots of positives from this week actually. I see my mid-range putts improve a lot, which is a good thing to know at the start of a new season. And to play alongside Bianca and P.K., both amazingly skilled LPGA Tour players, really was a great learning experience for me,” said the 22-year-old.

Avaricio Chanelle made another hole-in-one this week on the 16th, after Marvi Monsalve’s achievement on Thursday. She closed the week with a final-round 69 and climbed into a tie for 16th along with Taiwan’s Chou Tina Yi-Tsen (周怡岑) (76) and five more players at 6-over 222. Chang Hsuan-Ping finished in equal 23rd at 223.

This event is the second leg on the 2023 TLPGA Tour and first extending overseas. Pagdanganan’s win is worth US$18,000 in the US$100,000 tournament.