Reid claims U.S. Pro-Am title for first major footgolf title

After playing soccer for most of her life, Jo Reid of Anchorage has kicked the sport.

Her new passion is footgolf, a hybrid marriage of golf and soccer. It’s a trendy game catching on in the United States.

“When I started playing I had no idea the game was huge in Europe and is played internationally at a very high level, so I kind of jumped into the sport with both feet,” Reid told me.

Last year she made her debut at the world tour’s U.S. Pro-Am.

This year she won it.

Reid, of East High fame, crushed the competition in Orlando, Florida, with a 54-hole total of 240 to beat Japan’s Kaori Yamano by 12 shots and Spain’s Thania Requena Rueda by 27.

She was the only player in the tournament to break 80 and she did it twice, firing a 79 in each of the first two rounds.

“Last year I attended the U.S. Pro-Am and it was my first major FootGolf tournament,” Reid said. “I came in fourth and realized I loved the competition and wanted to make a go for the title.”

Reid played NCAA D1 college soccer at Creighton University back in the day before returning to her hometown 20 years ago to coach club and high school teams.

“I played golf as a child and, of course, soccer so combining the two sports seemed very natural to me and it has allowed me to have the confidence to compete and attend major events,” she said.

The U.S. Pro-Am is one of six events on the world tour and featured 130 competitors from 18 countries. The tournament was held at the Reunion Golf Course.

“The course is very long and challenging, and we don’t have anything like that in Alaska, so it was very intimidating seeing the Reunion for the first time,” Reid said.

In Anchorage, Fox Hollow Golf Course has helped paved the way for her breakthrough in the sport of footgolf by allowing her free access to the par-3 course to work on her game.

“I was able to work on my short game and gain a lot of confidence going into this event,” Reid said. “Training at Fox Hollow was so helpful because it’s a short, technical course so it helped with my precision and I got a lot of practice getting out of trouble and not getting rattled if I didn’t have a perfect look at the cup.”