You might remember Jean Reynolds from last year’s US Women’s Open. If you watched at all or were at Saucon Valley (like I was), then you definitely remember her. During the third round I watched her play about five holes. The fans at Saucon Valley fell in love with the sprightly petite lady from Newnan, Georgia, who spent the past two years playing on the Futures Tour. Jean made headlines after the first two rounds of the US Open when she was two shots off the lead. She ultimately placed T17.

Competing on the Futures Tour, she won two tournaments in 2009 and finished second on the money list to secure her LPGA Tour card.

Last month I received a nice email with some kind words from Paulie Maggiore, who introduced himself as Jean’s caddie. Naturally, I replied to thank him and asked if he could put me in touch with her for an interview. He graciously did. Read on for my chat with Jean.

Also, be sure to follow Paulie on Twitter (@TheTourCaddieOG) — he’ll be tweeting about his and Jean’s adventures this season and she’ll be using his account, too (she’s self-admittedly not tech-savvy).

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

SW: Talk about your experience at the 2009 US Women’s Open. How did it influence the rest of your year?

JR: Going into the Open, I had a lot of confidence. I started off well on the Futures Tour and had two wins tucked away. So going into that week, I knew I was playing well and I was just looking forward to make the cut — like I did the first year. I had the experience, so I knew kind of what to expect. I played a few practice rounds and my coach flew up — I work with Charlie King out of Reynolds Plantation — on Tuesday of that week. He settled my nerves a bit. I got off to a good start on Thursday [in the first round] and it just led to a good week. I was, of course, disappointed with Sunday, but I’d be lying if nerves weren’t a factor on the final day. Other than that, the experience was incredible and it just gave me a confidence boost for the rest of the year. I also met some awesome people. Everyone was just so nice, supportive, complimentary, and it added to making that week unforgettable.

SW: Your caddie, Paulie, told me to ask you about the games you guys played on the course at the Women’s Open. Talk about that.

JR: I had a lot of family and friends up there, and to keep me distracted we played a rendition of “Where’s Waldo?,” where we looked for a family member or friend. It takes your mind away from leaderboards, three-foot putts and just what was really at stake. So, Paulie was a tremendous help out there, especially as far as keeping me relaxed.

SW: Yeah, I followed you for a while on Saturday [during the third round], and you looked like you were having a good time.

JR: Yeah, we were just both laughing and cutting up. I mean, that’s the most important thing, for me, anyway — when I’m in that kind of stressful situation at a golf tournament, I just try to relax the best I can without forgetting what I’m there to do.

SW: Who introduced you to golf?

JR: My grandfather, father, and two brothers are huge golf nuts and I tagged along with them when I was 6 or 7. I got more into it when I was about 10 and started playing in some Atlanta Junior events, the Southeastern Junior Tour, and a few American Junior Golf Association ones. But I just had a really good state and amateur record. I played in four of the USGA Girls’ Junior Championships.

SW: You were on the University of Georgia Women’s Golf Team for one year. Why did you quit?

JR: I redshirted my freshman year. I was just enjoying college and I joined a sorority. I was doing normal college kid things and my head just wasn’t 100% in golf at that time, so I walked away from it. I think it was a really good decision because I don’t think I would be playing now if I stuck with it…I’ve had people ask me, “Do you feel like you missed out playing college golf?” I had that one year of experience. I didn’t travel with the team, but I really don’t think I missed out at all. I don’t regret the decision I made.

SW: Yeah, I hear that. It’s understandable. I mean, at Yale it was time-consuming enough and that’s just the Ivy League. I know it’s way more intense at a school like UGA.

JR: Yeah, you’re going from 6-8 five days a week — I’ve never played that much in my life. I mean, I practice, but I was just getting sick of it. I knew something had to change.

SW: What inspired you to turn pro after college?

JR: It was one of those things where my friends and I were like, “What are we going to do?” I’d played in a few Georgia State Amateur events prior to turning pro and finished pretty well. So I went to Futures Q-school and placed fifth. Then I played full-time in 2008 and had a mediocre year. I finished about 45th [on the money list] and that doesn’t get you anywhere. My attitude was heinous after that and I missed the cut at the final stage of LPGA Q-school. So I took the off-season to figure out what I wanted to do and sat down with my coach to reevaluate the year and what I really wanted. I started fresh in March ‘09 and here am I, about to start up in March on the LPGA. It’s been kind of a whirlwind.

SW: Paulie also said to ask you about mashed potatoes in your sorority house.

JR: Oh yeah…we had a huge mashed potato fight in the kitchen. There might have been brownies involved. But after that, they shut the kitchen down, where you couldn’t get in after ten at night.

SW: You’re a big Georgia football fan. How was that a part of your college experience?

JR: We would go to a lot of away football games. We always went to Georgia-Florida. Also, Georgia-Auburn was fun. Just weekends like that, we’d get together with friends from other schools. The [golf] coach wasn’t really big on me being in a sorority. At that point, friends were more important to me than my golf game. But it worked out best for me. A lot of people thought I’d quit for good, but I always knew I’d go back to it.

SW: Do you have any superstitions or rituals?

JR: I have a buckeye that I keep in my bag — a good friend of my parents gave me that he got from his father. He gave it to me about a year ago. I’m thinking that might be my good luck charm. I’m not sure, but I haven’t taken it out to see if the luck is going to change. So I’m just going to keep it in there and pretend it’s good luck.

SW: What’s the craziest fan encounter you’ve had?

JR: It was funny because at the US Open, a lot of my friends were there and we all have nicknames for each other. So there were fans were yelling, “Where’s Butters?” and “Where’s Jules?” Because [reporters] had written about them in some of the articles. I got a laugh out of that. But no crazy autograph stories. Someone asked me, “What’s the weirdest thing someone has asked you for an autgoraph?” I don’t have any weird stories like that. I had a fan ask me for my hat. I would have given it to him, but I had really bad hat hair, so I decided I better hold on to that one.

SW: What’s your drink, alcohol-wise?

JR: Beer.

Do you have a favorite kind?

JR: No, just beer.

SW: What’s your favorite place to travel? And why?

JR: Probably Chicago. It’s just such a cool city — so much to do. The golf courses there are incredible. I mean, I don’t like to stay in big cities for very long, but I definitely like to check out the activities and what’s going on.

SW: Do you have a celebrity crush?

JR: Oh, Ryan Gosling. Or, who did I just see? I’m a reality TV show watcher — you know the kind that just rots your brain. I love Keeping Up With the Kardashians. They just crack me up.

SW: What do you look forward to the most on the LPGA and what do you think will be the greatest challenge?

JR: Well, the greatest challenge will be the competition — it’s just gotten so good out there. But I’m just looking forward to playing awesome golf courses, meeting different people, traveling again, and just getting back to competing.

Add another victory for new LPGA commissioner Mike Whan. Hana Financial Group has signed a three-year contract to maintain its title sponsorship of the LPGA event in South Korea. The tournament had previously been marked as TBD for date, venue, purse and sponsor.

SportsBusiness Journal’s Jon Show reports:

The LPGA Hana Bank Championship will take place Oct. 29-31 at a course near Seoul that will be announced at a later date. Terms were not disclosed, but purse commitments put the annual expenditure at $2 million.

Prize money for the 54-hole event will be $1.8 million, up $100,000 from last year when it was held in Incheon, South Korea. Coverage of the tournament will not air in the U.S.

It’s a shame we won’t get coverage of it in the States. Is Korea out of network for the Golf Channel or something? I assume the other four events in Asia won’t be aired either. So much for that “groundbreaking” TV rights deal. I guess something is better than nothing, right?

Well, good news is that since disgraced former commissioner Carolyn Bivens stepped down, sponsors have been returning and contracts are being signed. Now the announcement of another tournament on US soil would make many of us absolutely giddy. Perhaps that’s just getting greedy, though.

[Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images AsiaPac]

On Tuesday the LPGA announced the addition of a new tournament, the Sybase Match Play Championship. The LPGA re-signed Sybase, a database technology company, to a three-year sponsorship agreement. The $1.5 million event will be take place May 20-23 at the Hamilton Farm Golf Club in Gladstone, New Jersey.

Now, there are 25 events on the 2010 LPGA Tour schedule — which is good news, but the new contract didn’t come without concessions (hence the asterisk in the headline).

The tournament will feature 64 LPGA players competing in a bracket-style match play format. According to an LPGA official, eligibility for the field is as follows:

• The top-48 players from the 2009 LPGA Official Money List
• 10 players not otherwise qualified will have the opportunity to qualify in the first two rounds of the Bell Micro Classic (essentially it’s a 36-hole qualifier and top ten finishers who didn’t finish in the top-48 on the money list will be eligible).
• The top-four players not otherwise qualified from the above criteria from the 2010 LPGA Official Money List through the Bell Micro Classic
• Two sponsors invites

Newly-deigned Commissioner Mike Whan weighed in via the press release:

We’re pleased that Sybase has enabled the LPGA to bring a prestigious women’s golf event back to the Greater New York area. It is especially gratifying to continue the momentum that the LPGA has been enjoying since the end of last season, thanks to great partners like Sybase and Octagon.

Sybase was the title sponsor of the Sybase Classic from 2001 through 2009, but last fall it was announced the event was not returning. According to an industry insider, ShopRite, the presenting sponsor of the Sybase Classic for the past three years, opted not to extend its contract. Shortly thereafter it was revealed that ShopRite, which ran a successful tour stop for twenty years, was bringing back the ShopRite Classic to the Seaview Resort in Atlantic City.

Without a presenting sponsor, Sybase was unwilling to bear the full financial responsibility to hold a full field tournament — which explains why the new event is limited to 64 players vying for a $1.5 million purse, down from $2 million the previous two years.

An LPGA official noted, “The new format was the essential element in keeping Sybase on the schedule.”

It’s a sign of the times. The Tour must compromise to accommodate the sponsor’s requests — which is a very different plan than what disgraced former commissioner Carolyn Bivens envisioned when she took over in 2005 — but practical (the LPGA will take what it can get, right?).

But at least a new deal with Sybase was successfully negotiated. The better news is there are now two tournaments in the New York area on the schedule, rather than one — even if one of them is a limited field event with a smaller purse. Perhaps under Whan’s watch this is just the start of more good news to come.

Fellow blogger and good buddy Shane Bacon looped for LPGA pro Erica Blasberg at last week’s mud-soaked LPGA Tour Championship. Check out his story — he likes watching girls in skirts scramble over fences and has a crush on Cristie Kerr.

When Jiyai Shin missed her chip on the 54th hole by mere inches, a beleaguered Lorena Ochoa, who was watching on the sidelines, smiled, hugged people and let out a sigh of relief. She’d just won Player of the Year by a single point over Shin, after an intense rain-delayed battle at the LPGA Tour Championship.

After bogeying the 17th, Ochoa sank a tricky 16-footer for birdie on the 18th that put her alone in second place.  Shin, who also bogeyed the 17th, needed a birdie on the final hole to become the first Korean player to win the POY award. Not to be.

After “struggling” in 2009 with only three victories, Ochoa, the world’s number-one player, was wistful. “Everything came down to the last hole and I am just really proud of the way I finished. I can be happy. I’m going to go home and rest and enjoy that top position.” Her upcoming marriage to AeroMexico CEO Andre Conesa next month has people wondering how focused she’ll be on golf, considering she’ll spend most of her time counting piles and piles of pesos.

Overshadowed by the Ochoa-Shin duel was Anna Nordqvist’s fantastic showing. The Swede played spectacularly on Monday, as she fearlessly tackled pins and carded eight birdies on her way to a two-stroke victory over Ochoa. Earlier this season, she won her first LPGA tournament and a major, the McDonald’s LPGA Championship.

Most of the headlines about the LPGA this year have been about the troubles in the boardroom, but with Michelle Wie (finally) winning her first professional event the week prior; the thrilling race for POY; and a great victory by Nordqvist — it’s brimming with promise for 2010.

Mike Whan assumes the commissionership in January with the challenge of making the LPGA relevant — a task that seemed impossible just a few short weeks ago. As long as the play on the course continues to be this compelling (when they actually, you know, have tournaments), he’ll at least have something to work with. It can only get better.

[Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images]

It’s almost fitting that the beleaguered LPGA can’t end a season without some sort of complication. Plagued by stormy conditions and delays, the LPGA was forced to reduce the LPGA Tour Championship to 54 holes and push the finish to Monday.

The ladies spent most of Friday and Saturday in the locker room waiting for the rain to let up. Lots of waiting. Lots of naps. Lots of card games.

The skies finally cleared on Sunday and second round play resumed. 35 players have yet to finish their second round as play was once again suspended because of darkness. They’ll finish on Monday morning at 7. Then, the top 70 will tee off for the final round starting approximately at 9. Hopefully.

Kristy McPherson, who got the “good” side of the draw, is the leader in the clubhouse at 8-under. Rookie of the Year Jiyai Shin trails by one through 34 holes. Lorena Ochoa follows closely at 6-under through 33 holes.

Shin and Ochoa are also battling it out for Player of the Year honors and the Vare Trophy, awarded to the player with the season’s lowest scoring average. Shin is leading the POY race over Ochoa by six points. For Ochoa to clinch her fourth consecutive POY title, she has to win or finish no worse than third and pray for Shin to place outside the top-ten. The way things are looking, Shin will be the first player since Nancy Lopez in 1978 to take home both Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year honors. Scintillating!

All will be decided before dusk on Monday. But given the way the Tour’s year has gone so far, don’t be surprised if a tornado drops down and demolishes Houstonian Golf & Country Club.

[Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images]

Cristie Kerr, who is in contention for Player of the Year honors, griped about the lack of exclusivity of the LPGA Tour Championship, which was reduced to a 54-hole tournament because of pesky rain delays:

Your season-ending tournament should be your creme de la creme,” said Kerr, 3 under after two rounds. ”They said there are tour cards to keep, there are awards to give out. You shouldn’t be worrying about keeping tour cards at this point in the year, with one tournament. Nothing against those people, I wish them well. But that’s kind of the way it is.

I wonder what her take would be if she were one of the players in danger of losing her tour card.

[Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images]

Just four days after the most important victory in the LPGA’s recent history, Michelle Wie withdrew from the LPGA Tour Championship, the final tournament of the season. Following her opening round of even-par 72, she stopped in the fitness trailer to treat the sore left ankle, an injury that’s plagued her since the Solheim Cup. The diagnosis? She needed an MRI. O-Wie!

Bad news. Even worse timing. Especially given all the hype about her first win coming just in time for the struggling LPGA and its less-than-satisfactory 2010 schedule. Let’s take a look at the bevy of articles on the topic:

• Given the economic climate and the number of tournaments lost this year, [2010] could be the most important season in the history of the tour. And it could just be that Michele Wie is riding to the rescue at just the right time. — Ron Sirak, Golf Digest
• We’ve been waiting all year. She had a good season, and then in one fell swoop, at one event with an amazing leaderboard, she beat all the best. It will help us in a big way. — David Higdon, LPGA chief of communications, via Bloomberg
• The pressure on Wie to build on her breakthrough victory will be palpable this week. So many folks want her to succeed because she can be a Tigress Woods for the tour, relatively speaking. The tour desperately needs the jolt only she can give it because of the nature of her following. She reaches people beyond the sport in a way other players can’t. Wie’s success can benefit every LPGA pro out there by elevating the tour’s profile. — Randall Mell, Golf Channel
• Michelle Wie’s breakthrough victory on the LPGA Tour has given the U.S. women’s circuit a timely boost after a season of economic struggle…In the 20-year-old Wie, however, the circuit has one of the biggest drawcards in the game, a gifted and long-hitting player who is beloved by television and sponsors alike. — Mark Lamport-Stokes, Reuters
  
• The LPGA is having trouble signing domestic sponsors, yet Wie is internationally known, a marketable commodity. Americans had gone six months without winning an LPGA event, and Wie attracts fans like Phil Mickelson…Her win in Mexico might be the best thing that’s happened to golf since Eldrick T. Woods mumbled hello, world. — Steve Elling, CBS Sports

Without Michelle in the field, it seems the buzz was all for naught. Her win last week was undoubtedly a tremendous boost for the Tour (and of course, for her). But another win or top finish would have provided more much-needed momentum and perhaps swayed sponsors still on the fence to hand over the big bucks.

Now we must anxiously wait for next February when the LPGA kicks off its 2010 season in Singapore to see the Wonder Girl vie for another victory. Oh, let’s hope Michelle’s ankle recovers quicker than her wrist, too.

[Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images]

There’s an influx of Asians on the LPGA. And they’re really good. In fact, they win a lot. But many fans find it difficult to keep track of who is who because, you know, all Asians look alike and their names sound the same. So, let’s get to know them better.

• Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, Michelle is 20 years old.
• Her given name is Sung-Mi, which means “Holy Beauty” in Korean.
• She started playing golf when she was 4. At age 5 she hit it 100
  yards. At 13, she drove it 300 yards.
• When she was 10, she professed, “My favorite golfer is Tiger Woods. I think I can beat him in the near future. Like when I’m 15.”
• At 16, she was named one of Time magazine’s “The Time 100, The People Who Shape Our World.”
• She speaks “Konglish.” That’s what she calls the mix of Korean and English she learned from her parents.
• She got her nickname “The Big Wiesy” when she played with Tom Lehman at the 2002 Pro-Junior the week of the PGA Tour’s Sony Open — her swing reminded him of Ernie Els’, aka “The Big Easy.”
• “Youngest player” achievements include: Won 2003 US Women’s Public Links Championship; made the cut at an LPGA major championship (13); played in a PGA Tour event (14); played in Curtis Cup (14)
• In 2004 she was given a sponsor’s exemption to play at the Sony Open and despite missing the cut by one measly stroke, her second-round score of 68 was the lowest ever by a woman in a PGA Tour event.
• She turned professional in 2005 after her 16th birthday and immediately signed contracts with Nike and Sony that were reportedly worth more than $10 million.
• That same year she played a round with President Bill Clinton, who said this: “She’s a brilliant athlete, and a beautiful young woman. She’s a nice person. She’s a great golfer, and she puts her talents to good use, something not always done by teenagers with her gifts. Plus, pretty soon she could be winning tournaments against men.”
• “88 Gate”: Citing a wrist injury, she withdrew from the ‘07 Ginn Tribute, where she was 14-over through 16 holes and sparked controversy because of the “Rule of 88” that states a nonmember who shoots 88 is banned from playing in LPGA events for the remainder of the calendar season.
• After injuring her wrist in early 2007, she continued to compete (rather poorly) despite the pain and didn’t discover until months later that she had three broken bones in her hand.
• Her parents have been hugely criticized for the mismanagement of their daughter and inappropriate behavior on the golf course.
• She’s a junior communications major at Stanford University. GPA? 3.4.
• She enjoys painting, drawing, etc., and DIY fashion and showcases her creative work on her blog, Black Flamingo.

Asian-ness Scale (1-10, 1: Michelle Wie, totally Americanized; 5: Se Ri Pak, somewhat assimilated; 10: Eun-Hee Ji, 한국말): Michelle = 1

[**To learn more about Michelle, check out Eric Adelson’s book THE SURE THING: The Making and Unmaking of Golf Phenom Michelle Wie — actually, the Armchair Golfer is having a free drawing for an autographed copy. Go HERE for a chance to win.]

There are 24 tournaments, only 13 will be played on American soil. The Tour kicks off its season on February 18th with a two-week swing in Asia, a stop in Thailand followed by one in Singapore. The earliest event in the US doesn’t take place until March 25 in California.

The ladies will have plenty of time to fine tune their games and pick up other hobbies (crocheting) or perhaps even side jobs (cart girl) in the 17 off-weeks between the first and last tournaments.

This season the Tour had 27 events, 7 less than in 2008. While the schedule looks bleak, there’s still time to toss in a few more with the economy supposedly improving. Another Michelle Wie win wouldn’t hurt either.

And while it sucks that the ladies are playing fewer tournaments and more overseas, they’re tough — it’s not a permanent situation and things should bounce back in the next few years.

In related news, it was also announced that Wegmans will serve as the presenting sponsor for the 2010 LPGA Championship, the second major of the season, which will be played at the site of the Wegmans LPGA event in Pittsford, NY, from June 21-24.

Here’s the schedule [via GolfWeek, missing the Korea tournament TBD]: