Mel Reid’s first stop when she gets to the ShopRite LPGA Classic each year is always McGettigan’s 19th Hole.

The pub is a fixture in Galloway, N.J., an area that’s hosted the LPGA Tour since 1986, and is situated just across the way from Seaview’s Bay Course, where the ShopRite LPGA Classic has been annually contested for the last several years. The locals flock because of its familiarity, first attracted by the food and drink but then charmed into returning after being remembered by their first names and having their regular drink orders appear seemingly out of thin air, memorized by the bartender after just their second or third visit.

But when the LPGA comes to town, McGettigan’s becomes a safe haven for players and caddies alike, harboring those who require a hefty bite and a stiff drink to either celebrate a hard-fought triumph or drown the sorrows of a difficult round, often offering libations for both occasions until the wee hours of the morning.

Mel knows first-hand what McGettigan’s looks like when the lights shut off at the end of the night, having spent plenty of time getting to know the restaurant staff over the years. She would even go so far as to call it her favorite pub in the world, which is high praise for an American institution from an Englishwoman, no offense to the local joints in her native Derby.

The Guinness is always frosty and poured to perfection, an essential for a Brit like Mel. What could be just regular old bar food has been elevated with fresh takes on tavern classics, making the eats just as big of a draw as the ice-cold drinks. It also doesn’t hurt that McGettigan’s owner, Tim Cusumano, won’t let Mel pay for a thing, the spoils that come with being a past champion of one of the Tour’s longest-running events and one of the bar’s favorite customers.

Mel won the 2020 edition of the ShopRite LPGA Classic, a victory she will be the first to tell you completely changed her life.

And while she has six Ladies European Tour titles, an Olympics appearance and incredible performances conjured up every couple of years for the European Solheim Cup Team on her lengthy resume, Mel’s win in the Garden State is arguably the crowning achievement of her longstanding career as a professional golfer, one that came after incredible sacrifice and the life-derailing struggle of losing her mother, Joy, in a car accident back in 2012.

“It just goes to show, no matter what life throws at you, it depends how you handle it,” Mel said after the victory. “I made a huge sacrifice moving to America, leaving my comfort zone, my friends and my family, and it's paid off. I always wanted to be a world-class athlete, and to finally get the job done is a huge sigh of relief. No matter what, people can't take away the fact that I'm an LPGA winner against a world-class field. It just goes to show you just got to keep going.”

Mel Reid 2020 ShopRite LPGA Classic Champion

McGettigan’s saw a heck of a party after Mel’s win on that October evening, as she made sure to bring her new piece of crystal over to the pub to commemorate the moment alongside the Atlantic City locals. But, nearly five years on from collecting her first LPGA Tour title, Mel’s return to the ShopRite LPGA Classic in 2025 looked incredibly different than in years past.

For one thing, Mel now has a wife, as she married Carly Grenfell on April 15, 2022, whose birthday, funny enough, fell during ShopRite’s first round this year and who caddied for Mel for the first time in the 2022 edition of the tournament, just a couple of months after their wedding day.

The couple have an almost two-year-old son named Kai William Reid, who they welcomed into the world on November 8, 2023, and who keeps his mothers on their toes with his daily antics, which have recently seen him show an interest in golf, hitting whatever might even slightly resemble a golf ball with all manner of club-shaped things around their Florida home.

But maybe the biggest difference from 2020 to now? Mel didn’t hit a single shot this year at the Bay Course, instead walking as an on-course commentator for the Golf Channel broadcast.

The 37-year-old announced on the first episode of her new podcast “Quiet Please! With Mel and Kira,” which launched earlier this year, that she had retired from competitive golf, more specifically saying she had done an “Irish goodbye” from her life as a professional athlete. The reveal was definitely a shock for some, but Mel had contemplated stepping away from the LPGA Tour several times over the past couple of seasons, thoughts that were the result of both dealing with the frustration of injury and the perspective shift that comes with first-time parenthood.

Having done a few commentary gigs in the past, Mel decided to dive headfirst into the broadcasting world with her newfound free time and has quickly cemented herself as one of brightest up-and-coming golf analysts in the industry, already doing work this year for both the LPGA and PGA Tours. So, when she had an opportunity to be an on-course reporter for this year’s ShopRite LPGA Classic, she jumped at the chance, excited to be able to return to a part of the world that has meant so much to her life and career.

“It feels like a full-circle moment in a weird way,” Mel said. “This is where we have so many good memories, and it's good to still be part of it in a different capacity, where I feel like I'm in a really good headspace. It's always nice to enjoy it with the family. Carly's family is from (Philadelphia) originally, so I feel like this is always a get-together for the whole family. It's always been a special place for me, so I was really excited when they wanted to put me on (the) week for TV.”

Even though this year is her first real foray into life as a full-time media member, Mel has already been an analyst in the broadcast booth, done on-course commentary and been on the desk for Live From coverage from the U.S. Women’s Open, the last of which is a role she sometimes stepped into when she was still playing on the LPGA Tour.

And while learning a second career can often be difficult for a professional athlete, as rarely does an athlete’s first job ever bleed over into their second, Mel has enjoyed tackling this new challenge, likening the experience to the work she used to have to put in as a golfer and enjoying the grind of trying to improve at something that she doesn’t have totally figured out just yet.

“I feel like they're throwing me a load of different roles, and it's kind of like figure it out. And I love that,” Mel said. “It's kind of like golf, the uncomfortableness of it and figuring it out on your own, doing the work, the prep. It's very similar, in a way, to golf. That's how I explain it to people.

“I love the comfortableness of it already because I really don't know what I'm doing, and I'm learning on the way. To me, that reminds me a lot of golf. You get thrown stuff all the time, and you've got to figure it out. That’s where I really love doing this job.”

Mel has also been loving life as a mother to Kai, who is fully into his toddler phase at the moment, providing both Mel and Carly with several moments of hilarity in their day-to-day. She, of course, enjoyed having her wife and son out when she was still playing some, as her family brought levity to the frustrating parts of professional golf life, but Mel has even more so appreciated the opportunity to spend time with them away from the golf course, something that might not have always been the case when she was teeing it up the last couple of seasons.

And because of her history with the ShopRite LPGA Classic and the close proximity to Carly’s family in Philadelphia, bringing Kai along this week was always in the plans, as Mel and Carly just couldn’t pass up the chance to introduce him to this little town in New Jersey that holds such special significance in their family’s history.

“It’s just a special week, in general, without the golf for us. It’s kind of like our little hub,” Mel said. “(Carly’s family) love coming here. ShopRite are so great with me. This week, ShopRite has given out free diapers to daycare and free wipes and stuff. They just do things right. They make the players’ lives a lot easier. It’s cool to have Kai back in daycare with all his buddies, and he remembers them, and he remembers Bardine, Joy and Sarah.

“It’s just a cool moment for him to see a place that has meant so much to us as a family before we had him.”

Sunday saw Mel get to have another full-circle moment on the final green at the ShopRite LPGA Classic. After 2025 champion Jennifer Kupcho claimed her first LPGA Tour victory since 2022 and was doused in celebratory champagne, Mel did her winner’s interview, a bit of an ironic moment considering Mel beat Jennifer by two strokes en route to her win in 2020, something the pair shared a chuckle about before chatting through the emotion of Kupcho’s long-awaited victory.

When the cameras cut and Kupcho was whisked away to sign her card and pose for photos, Mel headed back to the compound, returned her pack and microphone to the audio truck and took off to her hotel, eager to see her wife and son after another long, fulfilling week spent on the golf course walking alongside and talking about the LPGA Tour’s best.

And even though a late night at McGettigan’s with cold beer in a crystal trophy wasn’t on deck this time around for Mel, she was more than happy to be going home to hang out with Carly and Kai, now her two biggest accomplishments in life, and reflect on the new memories she made at the ShopRite LPGA Classic, this time with a microphone in hand and her family in tow.

Mel Reid Returned to ShopRite LPGA Classic, This Time With Mic in Hand and Family in Tow

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