Paula Reto continued her recent fine form on Thursday when she opened her campaign in the LPGA Tour’s LPGA Mediheal Championship in Somis, California with a five-under-par 67.
Her seven birdies and two bogeys put her in a share of fourth place, three off the pace set by England’s Jodi Ewart Shadoff. Shadoff had an eagle, seven birdies and a bogey in her first round to lead by two from China’s Riuxin Liu and Alison Lee of the United States. Reto shared fourth Atthiya Thitikul of Thailand and American Danielle Kang.
Reto started her round with a bogey on the very first hole, but she picked up three birdies ahead of the turn on the fourth, fifth and ninth to tourn in two-under. She birdied the 10th, but dropped a shot on the 11th. Then three birdies in the final four holes, on 15, 16 and 18, saw her home in five-under. It was consistently accurate play off the tee which had her scoring so well as she hit all 14 fairways. She wasn’t quite as deadly into the greens, hitting 13 of 18 in regulation, but when she got onto the greens, her putting, a strong point in her game recently, served her well as she took just 26 putts during her first round.
The other South African in the field, Lee-Anne Pace, battled her way to a three-over 75 and a share of 89th with work to be done if she is to make the cut.
