Whatever Mel Reid takes away from the Women’s PGA Championship, at the very least the 35-year-old will know that she made the right choice in deciding to return from an unknown retirement last September.
The Englishwoman reached the halfway point of the second female major of the season one off the lead and in the midst of a remarkable comeback from an injury-induced despair. Having broken her duck on the LPGA Tour in 2020, she went into the next season with so much confidence, but a wrist problem almost cost her playing privileges.
“I legit quit,” Reid said after a brilliant 67 at Baltusrol. “When I got my injury, I tried to play through it, which I kind of felt I had to because I was losing my card, and then yeah, we don’t get money being on a medical.
“I said [her wife] Carly, ‘I’m going to work in the media…I’m not playing golf anymore’. But after a couple of months, I worked pretty much every day with Duncan [McCarthy, her sports psychologist]so massive credit to him.
“With things like that, if you just give me a bit of space, I do kind of work it out myself. I was playing golf at home when I was kind of feeling fit with the boys at Atlantic Beach [Country Club], and I just was enjoying it again. I missed the competitiveness of it, and I thought right, ‘OK, let’s give it one more go’. I’ve just been really enjoying myself this year.”
Having returned to former coach Jorge Parada, Reid’s results have begun to reflect her renewed passion. A tie for 25th at the Founders Cup last month was key to keeping Reid in the big events and she followed it up with an eye-catching run of three more top-30s, including a tie for 15th in Atlantic City a fortnight ago. However, she did not expect much at the PGA.
“I hit it like s— in my warm-up, so I was like, ‘Oh, this could be interesting’, then hit a horrible drive off the first,” Reid said. Her form over the ensuing 35 holes was so welcome for a popular campaigner who showed so much promise as a teenage prodigy that when she turned professional Sir Clive Woodward, the rugby union World Cup-winning coach, set up a huge support staff around her.
That particular experiment was not a success, but her career since has hardly been a failure with seven worldwide titles and four appearances in the Solheim Cup. Yet greater things have always seemingly awaited the Derbyshire product and Reid has another inspiration to stage that glorious moment on an 18th green, be it in New Jersey or elsewhere this year.
“Carly is pregnant and starting to show now, which is exciting,” Reid said. “I guess I’m playing for something bigger than myself. It kind of puts things in perspective. Golf is really cool, and I’m really happy that I get to do it as a job, but at the end of the day, we’re going to be a family of three in the not-too-distant future, and that’s pretty exciting.
“It has given me a little bit more drive this year, for sure. I want to win tournaments, and I want my kid and my wife to be running out. Like, that’s something that I would love to have. It’s definitely given me a lot more drive and got my hunger back for the game, for sure. Let’s just see where this all takes me.”
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