Melissa Reid was never going to be allowed to sneak out of St Andrews without offering up some comment.
The hot topic of equality is back on the table this week after the issue of men-only clubs dominated the agenda at a press gathering held by the Royal & Ancient in the home of golf.
Reid, the Solheim Cup player from Derby, was in the Auld Grey Toon to promote this summer's Ricoh Women's British Open, which will be staged over the Old Course in August for a second time, but she could not avoid being dragged into a debate which has been given added fuel by Augusta National's decision to give membership to two women last year.
With all-male Muirfield hosting this year's Open Championship – and R&A chief executive Peter Dawson insisting that such clubs are in no danger of losing their place on the rota – Reid, a four-time winner on the Ladies European Tour, was inevitably asked to throw her tuppence-worth into the pot. "It would be nice if they did not [take the Open to male-only clubs] because it would back us up a bit," she said. "But I don't think they will because they are such good Open venues. It is a bit annoying. Things are moving with this generation but we do wish they would move a little bit faster."
Reid is not likely to lose sleep over the issue, however. In the grand scheme of life, there are far more important concerns and the 25-year-old knows that more than most. Her mother, Joy, was killed in a car crash as she travelled back from a tournament in Germany last May. Despite the anguish and the grief, Reid claimed an emotional tour triumph just four weeks later in Prague.
"I didn't really want to come back that early," she said. "Coming back from winning actually put a smile on our faces. But it was just strange to smile at such an awful time."
Having firmly established herself on the Ladies European Tour, Reid, the world No.89, admits that "challenging for majors is the next step for me." On her last visit to St Andrews, as an amateur in the 2007 Ricoh Women's Open, she shared 16th place. "I was young, cocky and full of confidence when I was 18 and thought I was going to win," she reflected with a smile.
Amid the din and staggering uproar that greeted what, essentially, were a few subtle tweaks to the Old Course recently, the fact that it will be the professionals of the fairer sex who will get to test them out first in a competitive environment fell on deaf ears. All the focus has been on what the men will do when the Open returns to St Andrews in 2015. Girl power will take centre stage in 2013, though.
"I loved the Old Course from the start and it does whet the appetite to come back here," said Reid. "There's an aura round here, every golfer and probably non-golfer will tell you that. For women's golf, it's great to play at a venue the men play so often."
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