Saso, Pagdanganan look to build on AIG Open, Epson Tour surge in Portland

Bianca Pagdanganan of the Philippines and Yuka Saso of Japan0 plays their shot from the second tee during the second round of the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G 2024 at the TPC River’s Bend on September 20, 2024 in Maineville, Ohio.

Dylan Buell / Getty Images / AFP

MANILA, Philippines — Yuka Saso heads into the Standard Portland Classic on a welcome wave of confidence, looking to turn a strong showing in England recently into a fast start and sustained momentum at the Columbia Edgewater Country Club.

Saso’s joint 12th-place finish in the AIG Women’s Open, highlighted by a closing 68, was her best result of the season and a timely boost for the former two-time US Women’s Open champion after a campaign marked by missed cuts and inconsistent form.

She gets another favorable break in Portland with an early 7:15 a.m. tee time on No. 10, a start that could work to her advantage as she seeks to settle into her game early and build on the rhythm she found in England. With conditions expected to be practically calm at that hour, Saso will have an opportunity to attack the course before the day’s conditions become more demanding.

She will be grouped with Laney Frye and Brooke Matthews in the opening round, giving Saso a manageable pairing as she looks to put together a strong opening 18 holes and carry the confidence from her AIG Women’s Open performance into the weekend.

More importantly, Saso appears to be rediscovering the form that has made her one of the most accomplished players in the field. The 68 she fired in the final round at Royal Lytham and St. Annes showed the scoring touch and composure that have been missing at times this season, and another solid start could provide the spark she needs for a deeper run in Portland.

Also flying the Philippine flag is ICTSI teammate Bianca Pagdanganan, who arrives with her own dose of confidence after a strong showing on the Epson Tour.

Pagdanganan also closed with a 68 to tie for 10th in the Smoky Mountain Championship in Tennessee over the weekend, an encouraging result as she continues to shuttle between the Epson Tour and the LPGA Tour in her bid to regain a firm foothold on the world’s premier women’s circuit.

The big-hitting Pagdanganan is hungry for another opportunity to establish herself on the LPGA and will look to build on her latest Epson Tour performance when she joins the 144-player field in Portland.

Her current campaign has been shaped by the challenge of regaining her LPGA status. After an underwhelming 2025 season that saw her finish outside the Top 100 in the season-ending CME standings, Pagdanganan lost her regular LPGA card. She also fell short of the Top 25 cutoff at the LPGA Q-Series Final Qualifying Stage, leaving her with conditional status on both the LPGA and Epson Tours this season.

That makes every LPGA start particularly valuable — and the Standard Portland Classic another chance for Pagdanganan to make the most of her opportunity.

For Saso, however, the immediate objective is simpler — get off to a strong start, capitalize on her favorable early tee time and prove that last week’s breakthrough performance was more than a one-week surge.

With confidence restored and conditions potentially in her favor from the opening tee shot, Saso has a chance to make an early statement in Portland.