Melissa Reid is taking inspiration from countryman Danny Willett’s win at The Masters as she looks to kick-start her season at the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco in a fortnight.
The Loughborough-based golfer commented: “It was great to see him win and inspires you to want to get that feeling.”
A Major title is still on Reid’s wish list and she will have the perfect stage when the Ricoh Women’s British Open takes place on home soil at Woburn in late July.
However, in the meantime, winning the Lalla Meryem Cup when the event takes place on the Blue Course at Royal Dar Es Salam in Rabat on May 5-8 is high on her priority list. Reid shared second place when she ended two strokes behind Frenchwoman Gwladys Nocera at last year’s Lalla Meryem Cup, at Golf de L’Ocean in Agadir, beginning a sensational year in which she claimed her fifth title at the Turkish Airlines Ladies Open and finished second on the order of merit. Another highlight was a second appearance in The Solheim Cup where she won 3 ½ points for the European team.
Whilst recovering from a wrist injury during the early part of the season, she has been building a studio to prepare better over the winter: “I’ve converted my garage into a golf studio and I’m getting a guy from Huxley to come and have a look at the garden because I’m converting it into a putting green, because it’s not nice to practice outside for six hours in wet weather,” she said.
“I’ll be able to work on my game in my studio and (my coach) Kev’s going to get a GC2 system and I’ll borrow it and have it on a projector and stuff. I’ve got my bike in there, a putting matt and can hit full shots, got a few snowboards on the wall, a TV on the wall, I got a guy to do a massive graffiti piece inside. When the putting green’s in I can take it to the next level.”
Now the weather is warming up, she is back out on the course with her ideal practise partner: a new Schnoodle puppy called Buddy.
“The reason I wanted him was to give me a bit of structure. I don’t really like my own company so when I’m practising I love him to come with me. He’s been in my studio this week and he’s been really good. Hopefully he’s going to be my practise partner,” she said.
The Lalla Meryem Cup is a unique tournament on the calendar as the women will share clubhouse facilities with the male professionals from the European Tour, who will be playing the Trophée Hassan simultaneously on the Red Course as the women play on the Blue.
Reid added: “I think it would be fantastic for the women’s game if we had a mixed event. Can you imagine playing with Danny, or Lee Westwood or Matt Fitzpatrick? A mixed match play event for us would be just amazing and I know the guys enjoy playing with us as well. It would be amazing for our game and would really, really help it and just be a lot of fun.”
