After an impressive second round of 67 in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, Mel Reid had left herself in contention for her first Major win.
However, she found the going far more difficult on Moving Day, and it wasn’t helped by incurring a one-stroke penalty on the fifth hole at Baltusrol Golf Club.
The 35-year-old lifted the ball when not permitted after her second shot landed near the back left of the green. Reid thought her ball was on the green and marked, lifted, cleaned and replaced it. Unfortunately, though, it had settled around four inches off the putting surface.
After suspecting her error, Reid called for a referee, who confirmed it had not been on the putting surface when she lifted it.
In doing so, Reid fell foul of rule 9.4b, which states “a player who lifts or deliberately touches their ball at rest or causes it to move, when not permitted to do so, gets one penalty stroke.”
That moment was one of a number of frustrations for Reid during a third round that will have fallen far short of her expectations after beginning the day one shot behind halfway leader Leona Maguire.
Reid’s round began poorly with a bogey on the first, and it didn’t improve from there. Further bogeys came on the fourth, fifth and seventh before she steadied herself with pars on eight through 12. However, she once again suffered frustration with two more bogeys on the 13th and 14th as she continued slipping down the leaderboard. Pars followed on the remaining holes as Reid’s round ended without a birdie.
Eventually, Reid finished with a six-over 77 to head back to the clubhouse tied for 35th, nine adrift of overnight leader Maguire, who shot another impressive round of 69 as she edges closer to her maiden Major victory.
Earlier in the week, Reid revealed she had “legit quit” the game in September following a wrist injury.
