NAPLES, Fla. — The 2024 Grant Thornton Invitational, an unofficial mixed team event, marked the end of Mel Reid’s career on tour, although the 38-year-old didn’t really tell anyone.
“I didn’t want to sing and dance about it,” she said from outside the Golf Central set at last month’s CME Group Tour Championship. “I don’t regret it for a second.”
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The entertaining Englishwoman returned to Tiburon Golf Club, also home to Grant Thornton, in late November to work as an analyst alongside Brandel Chamblee and host Anna Jackson for the live pre-match and post-match shows of the LPGA season-ending event.
Reid admits to thinking about retirement from touring on and off for about a decade. The tragic death of her mother, Joy, in a car accident in Germany in 2012 naturally took its toll.
“I think obviously, with my mom and all that, it made me think sooner than I would have liked,” she said, “but something held me back. With my back against the wall, I wanted to prove to myself that I wasn’t going to let this defeat me.”
A six-time Ladies European Tour winner, Reid joined the tour in 2008 and was named Rookie of the Year. She earned her LPGA card in 2017 and broke through with her first LPGA title at the 2020 ShopRite LPGA Classic. This year, Reid returned to the Jersey Shore, with her family, to work in her new role as a full-time television reporter and analyst.
Two years ago, Reid and his wife, Carly, welcomed their son Kai, and the family of three began traveling together when Mel returned to tour. It marked another change for Reid, who began working for Golf Channel/NBC Sports between events.
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“I remember Carly talking to me one day and she said, look, you’re putting us through a lot here, and I feel like you don’t even like it. I would 100 percent do this with you and support you 100 percent, but I know you don’t like it, and she was right,” Reid recalled.
After this honest conversation, Reid decided she was ready to take the next step and committed full-time to her new television role in 2025. She also launched a podcast with sports journalist Kira Dixon called “Quiet Please! With Mel and Kira.” Reid is one of eight LPGA players who recently retired.
“I’m so contrarian as a golfer,” Reid said. “I always hate being alone. I’m outgoing. I like being in a team. I’ve played team sports my whole life. I look back on my career and everything good in my life has come from golf, and I love golf so much, but it goes so against my personality it’s crazy. I think now I’m back on a team, and I think that’s what I enjoy again.”
Golf Channel teammates Chamblee and Jackson note that they can throw anything in Reid’s direction and she can respond in an insightful and composed manner. Live television often takes unexpected and abrupt turns, and Reid doesn’t flinch.
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“First of all, I don’t think people really understand what a good player she was,” Chamblee said. “She’s won on the LPGA, been lucky enough to win a major or two. She’s a hell of a player, but she has such wonderful relationships with everyone in golf – obviously the players but also the caddies, the managers, the executives of the game. She just has a very disarming side, so when people come to our office, they’re disarmed, they’re at ease, they’re at ease. Even if they barely know her, she’s one of those people who bring out the softer side. They lower their inhibitions, they smile, they light up around Mel.
Reid’s first experience on the desk came during a last-minute call during the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach. With no time to prepare, Reid suddenly found herself immersed in an hour-long preview show earlier this week. Jackson, who emceed the evening, said Reid simply spoke from the heart.
“Admittedly, she filters out a lot of things she shouldn’t say,” Jackson said with a laugh. “She knows a lot of secrets, Mel Reid. She found a way – very, very quickly – to provide a really new and interesting insight into the tour and the players in a very honest, raw and inexperienced way. I think her general nature is unapologetically Mel Reid – that’s who I am – I’m going to tell the truth.”
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Jackson went on to note that at Chamblee, Reid has a mentor and friend who helped her learn how to elevate her compelling anecdotes with data.
“What will get you into trouble in being a commentator is thinking that because you’ve played the game and know the players, you’ll always have something to say,” Chamblee said. “You have to work because the game is changing, and the last thing in the world you want to do is repeat week after week after week. So she’s willing to do the work. She wants it. She’s as competitive at it as anyone I’ve ever seen. And that says a lot. What made Johnny Miller great was a lot of things, but deep down he wanted to be great. He wanted to work at it.”
Solheim European Cup captain Anna Nordqvist says Mel Reid will go out of his way to light up a team room.
In addition to his media roles, Reid is once again vice-captain of Team Europe at the 2026 Solheim Cup. A four-time Solheim Cup player, Reid previously served as vice-captain in 2019 and 2024.
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Captain Anna Nordqvist chose her childhood friend for several reasons. Like Nordqvist, Reid can get to the point when it counts, lessening the drama. She will be aware of player performances through her television work and will bring energy to the team room.
“He’s a fun character to be around,” Nordqvist said earlier this year at an annual event in the Netherlands. “She brought this puffy costume, not a big costume, it was like a sumo wrestler. I can’t remember which one (Solheim), I think it was Gleneagles. … She was wearing it in the team room and everyone was dying.”
As Reid’s new media career blossoms, there is no doubt that captaincy duties will soon follow.
This article was originally published on Golfweek: Mel Reid on moving to television and how professional golf went against his personality
