SHOPRITE LPGA CLASSIC PRESENTED BY ACER

June 9, 2023

Paula Reto

Seaview, A Dolce Hotel

Quick Quotes

Q. Okay, I'm here with Paula Reto after a 5-under round today. Talk us through your round out there today.

PAULA RETO: Yeah, so it's been up and down year so far, so it's been nice to sort of see a little bit of red numbers.

However, it was a lot of focus having to make sure to start strong, which I've been trying to do. It's paid off, because it kind of kept me in the game today.

And having to just simplify it a little bit more, sort of just figure out what I have to do then in that moment. So being able to do that today really helped me.

Yeah, I've been changing a few things here and there as well, so I'm glad it's been paying off.

Q. You had two birdies early on. Do you think that helped the momentum for the rest of the day?

PAULA RETO: Yeah, exactly. Sort of takes the pressure off a little bit and I'm able to sort of just go with the flow and think more of birdies coming in, which is more after positive thing rather than trying to control things.

Q. You mentioned it's been an up and down year. You started out pretty good; a little bit of a slump lately; you won last year. What's been the problem?

PAULA RETO: Oh, gosh. I don't really know, but I started working with -- last week I had like one session with Sean McBride, which is like mental guy out here.

I just sat down with him, explained to him what my year has been, and we have a little bit of a few things we changed to get me back on track, which we feel like it was just the way I was thinking around the golf course.

So just something simple, but makes a big difference. I'm going to keep working on that and see where it takes us.

Q. Were you putting too much pressure on yourself?

PAULA RETO: Probably. Sometimes when you want something so bad it just runs away from you. You sort of have to recalculate everything and hopefully it works out and everything will sort of go back on track.

Q. And then you had the fast start. I think a bogey at 12, but then birdie, birdie in. What happened at 17? Did you just hit it close to the pin, and did that get you going to finish strong?

PAULA RETO: Well, the bogey on 12, you know, just like misread the putt a little bit. I really thought to myself, how is the bogey going to look, having that feeling again, but I kept it on track, which is nice.

Hit it close on 17; 7-footer and made that.

18, it being a par-5, I was like, okay, just good drive, get it up there, give myself a chance.

So all those things sort of just gets me going.

Q. And I guess birdie, birdie finish gives you a good feeling going into tomorrow.

PAULA RETO: Exactly, exactly. So excited for that.

Q. One last question from me: This is one of your best rounds so far this year. How does that feel? What does that do for your confidence right now?

PAULA RETO: Yeah, I'm excited because I know, okay, I can build off this. You know baby little steps from here on out, see what I need to work on late today.

All those little positives will help me out, and small successes here and there kind of spreads out through the tournament and year.

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