Paula Reto birdied the 18th hole on Wednesday to win her first match one-up in the Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play at Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Reto was drawn against Sarah Schmelzel of the United States, and, given their respective world rankings – Reto is 71st and Schmelzel is 96th – Reto would have been expected to win. But matchplay is always a tough beast.
Reto went one down after the second hole, tied things up on the third, and was one down again after the fourth. But successive birdies on seven and eight and on 12 and 13 saw her go two up. Schmelzel fought back to tie things up again after a birdie on the 16th, but Reto pulled it off with her closing birdie.
Reto goes up against Min Lee of Korea in her second match on Thursday. Lee lost one down to France’s Celine Boutier in her first-round encounter.
