Learn more about 2020 ShopRite LPGA Classic winner Mel Reid with these facts.
12 Things You Didn’t Know About Mel Reid
After earning her LPGA Tour card in 2017, Mel Reid has lived and played in America ever since, with her first and only victory on the Tour coming in 2020 at the ShopRite LPGA Classic.
But there are still plenty more things to learn about the Englishwoman finally playing her best golf.
12 Things You Didn’t Know About Mel Reid
1. Mel Reid (full name Melissa) was born 19 September, 1987, in Derby, England
2. Reid enjoyed success as an amateur in the mid-2000’s, winning the 2004 and 2005 English Girls’ Championship, the 2006 and 2007 Helen Holm Trophy, the 2007 St Rule Trophy, and the 2007 Ladies’ British Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship.
She also played on the Great Britain and Ireland team for the Curtis Cup in that period, in 2006.
3. The Englishwoman turned professional in late 2007, and first started playing on the Ladies European Tour in 2008 on sponsor invitations.
This came after she failed to earn her card for the Tour at the 2007 Ladies European Tour (LET) Qualifying School in Italy, though her performances in 2008 meant she gained entry into LET events for the rest of the year.
Finishing twelfth on the money list, Reid earned the LET Rookie of the Year.
4. Mel had to wait until she was 22 before her first win on the Tour, when she won the 2010 Turkish Airlines Ladies Open.
She has since won five more events on the Ladies European Tour, taking her total to six event wins.
Her last came in 2017, at the Oates Victorian Open.
5. Following her mother’s death in a car accident in 2012, Reid told ESPN in 2015: “[my life] was a mess… I wasn’t coping, I was rebelling. I was spending time with people who partied. I was hitting the self-destruct button. I was with a lot of people, but I was lonely.”
6. Mel came out as gay in 2018, during an interview with Athlete Ally – a non-profit LGBTQ athletic advocacy group based in America.
She got engaged to her now-fiancé Carly Grenfell in 2020, who got a job at the PGA Tour in social media the same year.
7. She won her maiden, and to date, only, LPGA Tour event in October 2020, at the ShopRite LPGA Classic.
She beat second place Jennifer Kupcho by two strokes to win her first event on the Tour.
8. Reid has represented Europe on three occasions at the Solheim Cup, in 2011 when the team won, and also in 2015 and 2017.
Out of 12 matches she has played in the Solheim Cup, Reid has won four matches and lost six.
Catriona Matthew selected her as a vice captain for the 2019 team, after she initially missed out.
9. The Englishwoman has also represented Europe in the 2015 and 2017 The Queens, as well as her own nation in the 2016 International Crown.
10. Reid’s highest ever ranking in the Women’s World Golf Ranking came in 2020, where she rose to 39th on the list following her win on the LPGA Tour.
11. Three courses that stand out for Reid that she hasn’t played yet but which make her bucket list include: Pebble Beach, Augusta, and Winged Foot.
12. While living in Florida after moving to the US in 2018, Reid has played plenty of matches against fellow professional on the men’s Tour, Brooks Koepka.
She claims they enjoyed extremely competitive games, with the LPGA player occasionally beating the four-time Major champion.
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