Two late bogeys from Paula Reto on Sunday stymied her chances at a second LPGA Tour victory of a great season for her, and she closed the LPGA Mediheal Championship in California with a three-under-par 69 giving her a share of third.
It was a valiant effort by Reto, who made five birdies before the bogeys slowed her up on the 16th and 17th. She was level at that stage with eventual winner, Jodi Ewart Shadoff, who took her maiden LPGA Tour title with her closing one-under 71 giving her a one-stroke edge over Japan’s Yuka Saso. Reto shared third with Georgia Hall of England and American Danielle Kang.
“I had a good start, which was nice,” said Reto. “Kind of got me some shots caught up with her, but and then somehow when I got to like the back nine, third hole into the back nine, I started slowing down instead of keep on going. That was kind of my mentality the first nine, just keep going, keep going, keep going. And so kind of slowed down and a couple shots got away from me.
“But I take a lot of confidence knowing that my game is there and I’m able to compete with the best every week and being able to do it for four rounds. I enjoy to compete and that’s what I want to do. I want to be in the lead group every week. It’s fun having the cameras around and having every shot sort of watched and having to perform every shot.”
The performance gave her her fourth top-10 finish of the season to go with her maiden victory, and she climbed five places to 30th on the Race to CME Globe. The top 60 players get into the season-ending championship on November 17.
