Paula Reto made four birdies on the back nine on Thursday as she carded an opening five-under-par 67 in hot conditions in the first round of the LPGA Tour’s Maybank Championship in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Reto started her round on the 10th, and she soon started getting into red numbers with her first birdie on the 11th. She then made three birdies in a row on the 13th, 14th and 15th. She dropped a shot on the first immediately after the turn, but birdies on three and on the closing ninth hole saw her finish the round in a share of 11th.
She was four strokes off the lead which was held at nine-under-par by Japan’s Mao Saigo. Saigo turned in six-under-par 30 after a superb front nine, and then dropped a shot on the penultimate 17th to take a one-stroke lead over Korean’s Haeran Ryu. In a share of third were Ruixin Liu of China and Taiwan’s Wei-Ling Hsu on seven-under.
Reto shared 11th with 11 other players on a packed top of the leaderboard, and there were six players one stroke ahead of her on six-under in a share of fifth.
Ashleigh Buhai opened with a level-par 72 to be in a share of 55th.
