Saso, Pagdanganan, Pagunsan set to seal Olympic spots

Newly crowned US Women's Open champion Yuka Saso is set to headline the Philippine golf team to the Tokyo Olympics. LPGA (file photo)

By Ivan Saldajeno

MANILA--Filipino golfers Yuka Saso, Bianca Pagdanganan, and Juvic Pagunsan are in strong positions to officially qualify for the Tokyo Olympics based on the current Olympic seeding.

Saso, the newly crowned US Women's Open champion, even rose in the latest Ladies Professional Golf Association ranking to number eight in the world, jumping over South Korean golfer Kim Hyo-Joo.

The top 15 players in the world rankings will directly qualify for the Olympics as long as the countries they represent have at most four members in the shortlist.

Meanwhile, Pagdanganan, ranked 162nd in the world, is currently 42nd in the Olympic rankings after all the quota limits have been imposed.

In the men's division, Pagunsan, currently 218th in the PGA Tour rankings, is at number 51 in the Olympic rankings.

In the cases of Pagdanganan and Pagunsan, the remaining 45 spots per gender will be based on countries that have less than two qualified players.

If the Olympic rankings put up by the International Golf Federation remain the same by June 21 in the men's division and June 28 in the women's division, the three golfers will formally book their Tokyo Olympic spots.

Following the qualification of rifle shooter Jayson Valdez on Saturday, the Philippines now has 12 representatives to the Tokyo Olympics.

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