Paul Reto rounded out her week with a closing one-under-par 71 on Sunday in the final round of the first major championship of the year, the Chevron Championship at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California.
It was Reto’s fourth successive round of one-under-par, and it took her to a share of 25th in the tournament at four-under-par. That was 10 strokes behind the winner, Jennifer Kupcho of the United States, who closed off with a two-over 74 which was enough to give her a two-stroke margin over runner-up Jessica Korda. Pia Babnik of Slovenia was third on 11-under.
Reto started with two birdies early in her final round, on the second and fourth, but she dropped a shot on the sixth. Birdies on the seventh and the 10th saw her progress to six-under, a total which would have put her inside the top 15 had she stayed there. But bogeys on 11 and 17 saw her back to four-under.
Her performance has made her the second-best South African on the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings as she climbed 19 places to 174th. That puts her behind Ashleigh Buhai, who missed the cut at the Chevron Championship and remains in 97th. Lee-Anne Pace, who won her fifth South African Women’s Open title on Saturday, climbed one spot to 179th.
