Mel Reid on Leona Maguire: "She's someone people are definitely talking about for the Solheim Cup team"
Ellesse athlete Mel Reid is a bit admirer of Leona Maguire
LPGA Tour star Mel Reid is determined to make her fourth Solheim Cup appearance this year, and the English stalwart would not be surprised to see a "gritty" Leona Maguire become the first Irish woman to play in the event due to her incredible determination and mental strength.
1 How's your golf?
The game is pretty decent. I feel like I've had a pretty consistent start of the year. Nothing too exciting but nothing to worry about, so I feel like my game is in a pretty good place going into the busiest part of the year.
2 How did you get started in the game?
I played football for Derby County Academy when I was growing up, and when I couldn't play with the boys anymore when I was 10 or 11 years old, I joined my mates and took up golf. My mum would just drop me off at 7:30 in the morning and pick me up at 8 o'clock at night during the summer holidays. We played 45 holes today. I just got hooked pretty quickly.
3. Choose your weapon. Driver or putter? And why?
Driver 100%. I'm a bit of a streaky putter. Putting is more important, but I find driving a lot more fun.
4 Links or parkland? Why?
Links 100%. You have to use your imagination a lot more. Playing parkland pretty much every week in American means you are playing target golf a lot, and I just like the variety of links on the fact that you have to hit high and low and shape shots. It's just a lot more fun to play.
5 Who was your sporting hero growing up?
I was a huge David Beckham fan, but in golf, it has to be Tiger. I watched him win the Masters in '97 when I was nine, and that really made me think I want to get into golf. It took me another year to start playing, but I remember watching that and thinking he made golf look really cool.
6 Name an opponent or rival you especially admire and why.
Laura Davies is someone I've looked up to and someone I can call a close friend. I've always enjoyed the way she plays golf. I admire her attitude and the way that she is. She is very much herself and doesn't care what other people think. Another person is Karrie Webb who I have also become really good friends with. She was probably one of the most underrated golfers even though she was world No 1 and No 2 to Annika Sorenstam for a long time. I've learnt a lot from those two incredible women.
7 Their longevity is amazing.
Laura still hits in miles. She hits it past me. It's just fun to have that kind of variety on the LPGA because it is such a young tour. It's really good when she comes out on Tour. There's a really good energy when she plays.
8 What's your golfing ambition?
I just want to be the best golfer I can be, so whether that's winning more tournaments, winning majors getting to world number one, I don't know. I'd really like to leave the game in a better place. Ultimately my ambition is for people to say when I retire, I play golf because of you. I want people to want to take up golf because it looks cool and really enjoyable. One of the best legacies you can leave in the game is to inspire other people. So I'd like to leave a nice footprint on the game.
9 Name your dream fourball.
My dream fourball is just playing with friends. I'd love to go back to Bandon Dunes in Oregon and take a cart, a few beers and a few mates. That would be great.
10 If you could change something about the way professional golf is run, what would it be?
I don't particularly like the women's game having five majors. But I think Mike Whan has done an incredible job over the last 10 years. He deserves all the credit he gets because the LPGA is definitely moving in the right direction. We're getting more money and more TV time, but we could never really be compared to the men because they just make an obscene amount of money. I can't believe how much money these guys are making. More money and more TV would be better. I read a statistic that said less than 1% of sports media coverage is for women, which seems crazy to me, so everyone from the players to the media and the Tour needs to help each other and promote women's sport a lot better.
11 If I gave you a mulligan in your golfing career, what would it be?
The only thing I can think of is when I was leading in Portland last year, I doubled the sixth hole, which took me from being level with Georgia Hall to being two behind. That was the easiest golf hole on the planet. The only place I couldn't miss it was right, and I just wasn't comfortable on the tee. So I hit it right, got a bad lie, and one thing led to another, and there you go, double bogey.
12 If you had just one more round to play, where would it be?
My favourite golf course in the world is Royal Melbourne, so it would definitely be there.
13 What do you remember about your Solheim Cup debut at Killeen Castle in 2011?
I remember it being really fun and the crowds being unreal. I loved Gleneagles in 2019, even though I didn't play. But I would honestly say Killeen Castle was one of my favourite weeks, and that's not just because we won. The team atmosphere and the crowds at Killeen Castle were incredible because before the last 30 minutes, it looked like there was no way we would win. Then all of a sudden, we turned it around. It was just a really, really cool experience.
14 We would've loved to have had an Irishwoman on the team in 201. Can you believe an Irish woman has never played in the Solheim Cup?
I did not know that. Is that true? When I played Curtis Cup at Bandon Dunes in 2006, Ada O'Sullivan was the captain, and there were four Irish girls on the team - Claire Coughlan, Tara Delaney, Martina Gillen and Trish Mangan. That's amazing.
15 Do you see someone like Leona Maguire making the team this year?
She's certainly on the radar for the Solheim Cup. She is not the longest. She is pretty short, but she is so good with her hybrids and fairway woods, and her iron play is so consistent that being short is not a huge problem. She's one of the best putters I've ever seen. She's an unbelievable putter. And honestly, I am really impressed with her. I knew she was mentally strong. I played with her when she was an amateur, and I knew she had quite a bit of grit and was very focused, and that's probably what impressed me the most. Her mental strength is pretty impressive, and she's played really, really well at the start of this season. She's been extremely consistent and thrown a couple of really good results in there. So if she gets on the team or gets a pick, it's definitely deserved because she's someone people are definitely talking about for the team. So she's just got to keep her head down and keep doing what she's doing.
16 If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I wish I could listen to my instincts a little bit more. I wish I could schedule things a little bit better. Sometimes I play a little bit too much.
17 What's your most treasured possession or the first thing you'd save from a fire?
Myself and my passport probably. Al the rest of my stuff is back in England.
18 What's your idea of perfect happiness?
They say comparison is the thief of joy. So just being confident in yourself and just being authentic with yourself and doing life the way you want to do it is the true meaning of happiness for me.
Mel Reid is an Ellesse athlete. Find her exclusive clothing range at www.americangolf.co.uk
