LPGA Celebrates Pride Month With Pro Mel Reid & Family; Golf World Sends Love

The LPGA Tour is celebrating Pride Month with Mel Reid and her wife, Carly. The couple announced the birth of their son, Kai Willaim Reid, last November. Since then, the toddler has traveled with them to watch his mom play a couple of times. Carly, who also works as a senior public relations and social media manager, for Better Work, took Kai to his first event, the Grant Thornton Invitational, last year.

The LPGA Tour posted a picture of the Reid family on their Instagram handle to mark the start of Pride Month. Mel Reid shared her experience of being a mother: “It’s almost like you become a kid again. It’s the little things in life and the little progression that Kai makes, it makes us so happy, people don’t tell you how hard it is. It’s really hard work, but it’s just worth it. 100 per cent.” 

Reid and Carly Grenfell tied the knot at Clay Theatre in Green Cove Springs on April 16, 2022, two years after announcing their engagement. The English pro, who came out in 2018, has become the face of the LGBTQ community in the elite circuit of women’s professional golf. 

Pride month falls in June in this country, honoring the Stonewall Demonstration of 1968. On June 28, 56 years ago, thousands took to the streets of New York to demand equal rights for the Gay community. The movement has only expanded over the years. Netizens came out in overwhelming numbers to congratulate Reid and Carly on achieving another milestone in their personal journey. 

Netizens shower love on Mel Reid and her son

Mel Reid was hailed for her courage to come out when most were compelled to keep silent. In fact, in 2018, Anya Alvarez wrote a scathing piece in the Guardian blasting LPGA Tour for its ‘deafening silence’ during Pride Month. Much, however, has changed since then. Reid herself said in 2021, that, “Pride month for me is all about inclusion. It’s a month that hopefully educates people and brings awareness to the LGBTQ community.”

One Instagrammer congratulated the one-time LPGA Tour winner, “Happy Pride, adorable family!” While another commented, “Such a beautiful family”. Others, who have been following Kai closely, noted that the eight-month-old “Kai is growing fast”. One of them even quipped, “I like how Kai already has the Balenciaga model expression nailed.”

Reid has garnered praise at this year’s US Women’s Open as the on-course analyst for NBC Sports. Her breakdown of the par-3 12th, which grilled even the finest of the LPGA Pros this year, including Nelly Korda, who carded a 10, was lauded for technical expertise mixed with a sly sense of humor. One Instagrammer wrote, “Mel is fantastic on Live From. I’ve really enjoyed her content.”

Mel Reid is one of the big names in the LPGA Tour who is openly gay. Georgia Hall, a two-time winner on the Tour, is also in a relationship with fellow LPGA Pro, Ryann O’Toole. Their relationship blossomed in 2022 after being paired together. Pride Month might offer more heartening moments in the coming days.