Paula Reto bounced back on Saturday with a third round of two-under-par 70 in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Congressional Golf Club in Bethesda, Maryland, moving to one-over for the tournament and a share of 29th.
After her second round of five-over 75, she had slipped down the leaderboard to make the cut on the number, but an eagle-two on the par-four eighth got her back on to the right part of the leaderboard. Reto also made two birdies and two bogeys in her round, and she was nine shots off the lead which has been held since the first round by In Gee Chun of South Korean. Chun had a three-stroke edge over Lexi Thompson of the United States and Hye-Jin Choi of Korea.
Reto was in a share of 29th with five other players, including Ashleigh Buhai, who carded a two-over-par 74 in her third round. She had two birdies and four bogeys.
Chun shot a three-over 75 on Saturday, leaving her three strokes ahead going into the final round at Congressional Country Club. On a day the leaders had plenty of trouble, Chun was holding her own until she made a double bogey on the par-five 16th hole.
Her lead was at five when she had to play her third shot from some tall grass on the 564-yard 16th. That shot put her in even more trouble, in an area with tall grass and some trees. She took an unplayable lie and went back to the previous spot to re-hit.
An eight-iron from there went over the green, but Chun did manage to get up and down for a seven. The two-time major champion from South Korea led by five shots after the first round and six at the halfway point. After the third round, she had an eight-under 208 total.
