Saso bucks shaky putting, cards 67 to trail by 3

MANILA, Philippines – Yuka Saso hit a solid hybrid shot from way out to within eight feet off the cup but missed the putt. She thus settled for a closing tap-in birdie on the par-5 No. 9 for a four-under 67, three strokes off a hot-starting Paula Reto of South Africa after 18 holes of the Evian Championship in France Thursday (Friday, Manila time).

Putting did impede what would’ve been a blistering start for the 2021 US Women’s Open champion, who couldn’t seem to come up with the right strokes in the first eight holes at the back when majority of the field kept on hitting birdies in near-ideal conditions at the par-71 Evian Resort Golf Club in Evian-les-Bains.

The ICTSI-backed ace finally gunned down one on No. 18, also a par-5, then picked up strokes on Nos. 1 and 3 and appeared headed to closing in on Reto, who took advantage of an early tee-time to submit a 64 on a four-birdie splurge in the last five holes at the front.

But Saso muffed birdie chances on Nos. 6 and 7, got up-and-down on the eighth before holing out with another birdie for a 32-35 and a share of sixth with eight others, including Koreans A Lim Kim, Hae Ran Ryu, Eun Hee Ji and Su Ji Kim.

Saso had looked forward to contending early following a joint third place finish with teammate French Celine Boutier in last week’s Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational in Michigan. She hit all but two fairways on a 281-yard driving norm on the tight, undulating fairways, went out of regulation five times but rescued a par from the bunker and finished with 29 putts.

Reto also missed five greens on a 10-13 stint off the mound but came up with just 24 putts to spike her brilliant start that was actually marred by a missed green bogey on No. 11. But she quickly recovered the stroke on the next, dominated the two par-5s (Nos. 15 and 18) and birdied the first hole to go three-under.

After three pars, she strung up three straight birdies from No. 5, made a regulation par on the par-3 eighth then holed out with another birdie for a 30-34 and a two-stroke lead over Kiwi and world No. 3 Lydia Ko, Thai Wichanee Mechai, American Alison Lee and Boutier.

Reto and partner Amelie Lewis of the US took the second round lead in Dow Great Lakes Bay but wavered in the last two days of the only team event on the LPGA Tour and wound up tied for ninth.

Meanwhile, Lydia Ko, the 2015 Evian Championship winner, likewise put herself in the early mix with a solid 66 but Korean Jin Young Ko and American Nelly Korda, the world’s top two players, found the going a bit tougher as they finished with identical 70s for a share of 35th in the $6.5 million championship serving as the year’s fourth major.

Jin Young Ko shot four birdies but made three bogeys while Korda rebounded from a two-bogey mishap at the back with birdies on Nos. 3, 4 and 9.