Paula Reto eagled her final hole on Sunday to come within one stroke of pulling off a top-10 finish in the Amundi Evian Championship at Evian Resort Golf Club in Evian-les-Bains, Haute-Savoie, France.
Her final round of three-under-par 68 have her a share of 12th place for her best-ever finish in a major championship, surpassing her share of 18th in the Chevron Championship way back in 2015. Up to that final hole, she had made four birdies and three bogeys, and, had she finished on the six-under she was on at that point, she would have been outside the top 20.
In the end, it was a solid week for the South African ahead of the final major championship of the year, the AIG Women’s Open, where she has a best of a share of 24th in 2021.
At eight-under, she was 11 strokes off the winning total of 19-under. Japan’s Ayaka Furue dramatically eagled the final hole to win by one from Australia’s Stepanie Kyriacou, who had led after the third round. In third on 17-under, Patty Tavatanakit of Thailand fell short despite a last-round charge of eight-under-par 63.
Furue produced a moment of pure magic as her second shot flew over the lake protecting the green by the narrowest of margins and ended pin-high. When she sank the tricky right-to-left putt, there was a huge roar from the galleries and she secured her second Ladies European Tour-LPGA co-sanctioned event, following the 2022 Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open. She also has eight wins on the JLPGA.
The 24-year-old from Kobe, who describes herself as too shy to even order her own food on the telephone, said: “I am so honoured to be the winner of the 2024 Amundi Evian Championship, with the 30th anniversary and 10th anniversary of this being a major.
“I didn’t believe that I could get a major win, so I am so happy right now.”
She becomes the fourth Japanese player to win a major, following Chako Higuchi (1977 LPGA Championship), Hinako Shibuno (2019 AIG Women’s Open) and Yuka Sago, who won the US Women’s Open presented by Ally in May.
Kyriacou, who earned her best finish in a major championship, held the outright lead after 16 holes but dropped a shot on 17 after hitting her second shot short of the green and catching the third heavy.
After her final round of 67, the two-time Ladies European Tour winner from Sydney said: “It was a good week. Lots of positives to take away. I played great all week. It sucks not to hold the trophy, but if you’d told me I would come second at the start of the week, I would’ve been happy.
“Obviously a lot of stuff worked well for me this week, so just trying to keep the same mindset going forward and hopefully I can win.”
