GALLOWAY, N.J. (AP) — Mel Reid felt her first LPGA Tour victory was a very long time coming, and her celebration confirmed it.

She rapped in a 2-foot birdie putt on the ultimate gap Sunday on the ShopRite LPGA Traditional, instantly dropped her putter and bumped into the arms of her caddie, Ryan Desveaux. Moments later, she was showered with a mix of champagne and beer, and the 33-year-old from England grabbed a bottle of bubbly and took a swig.

In her first begin since shedding the final-round lead in Portland, Reid seized management with 4 birdies in a five-hole stretch across the flip and closed with a 4-under 67 for a two-shot victory over Jennifer Kupcho and Jennifer Track.

”I like champagne. So it was good to do it. I’ve not had that feeling for a very long time, so simply aid actually,” stated Reid, who has six Girls European Tour titles. ”I wished to place issues proper from Portland. Yeah, simply felt like I dealt with issues rather a lot higher in the present day than I did the ultimate spherical in Portland, so simply completely made as much as be holding the trophy.”

Reid’s solely mistake on the again 9 was a bogey on the par-3 17th, which lower her four-shot lead in half when Kupcho and Track every made birdie.

From the fitting tough on the par-5 closing gap, Reid lashed a 6-iron figuring out that in need of the inexperienced can be positive with a two-shot lead and the opposite two gamers additionally within the tough. The ball got here out sizzling and ran onto the sting of the inexperienced, successfully assuring victory.

A promising British novice who performed within the 2006 Curtis Cup and was low novice on the 2007 Girls’s British Open, her private life derailed in 2012 when her mom was killed in a automotive crash close to Munich whereas driving to observe her play a Girls European Tour occasion.

She ultimately bought again on monitor, and now she believes she will obtain much more.

”It simply goes to point out, would not it? It doesn’t matter what life throws at you it relies upon the way you deal with it,” Reid stated. ”I made an enormous sacrifice transferring to America, leaving my consolation zone, my associates and my household, and it is paid off. … It doesn’t matter what, individuals cannot take away the truth that I am an LPGA winner towards a world class area. It simply goes to point out you simply bought to maintain going.

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”Issues will get powerful. I’ll have powerful years as properly forward of me,” she stated. ”So long as you simply maintain your head down and doing the fitting issues, good issues will occur to good individuals. Simply nice to lastly get it accomplished.”

Kupcho, the previous NCAA champion at Wake Forest who final yr gained the inaugural Augusta Nationwide Girls’s Novice, misplaced floor with a double bogey on the par-Three eighth gap and had a shot roll again to her ft on the 16th for an important bogey. She closed with two birdies for a 68 to complete alone in second.

Track stored tempo with Reid till a two-shot swing on the par-3 11th – Reid made her fourth birdie within the final 5 holes, whereas Track made bogey – despatched her three pictures behind. She closed with a 69 and completed third.

Reid had a number of good par saves, notably on the 15th, and she or he seemed regular over her 4-foot putts to maintain her distance. She completed at 19-under 265, solely the second time the ShopRite LPGA Traditional was contested over 72 holes.

Nasa Hataoka had a 69 to complete fourth, whereas Nelly Korda closed with a 66 to complete fifth. Lexi Thompson, the defending champion who has gone practically 16 months with no victory, shot 68 and tied for 13th.

The primary name Reid made was to her father in England, and she or he knew the place to seek out him – a pub known as the Black Swan.

”He was a bit extra sober than I anticipated,” she stated with fun.

Reid must tone down her personal celebration. Subsequent week is one other main championship, the KPMG Girls’s PGA Championship at Aronimink outdoors Philadelphia.