It’s the week of the US Women’s Open and Jean Chua is in an understandably reminiscent mood.
Nine years ago, the former tour player qualified for and played all four rounds of the 2011 US Women’s Open at Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs. That marked not only Jean’s sole Major appearance but also the time when the seeds of romance were sown with soon-to-be-boyfriend and now husband Wesley Griswold … who was on her bag all four rounds as Jean finished T59.
“That’s actually where it all started. Wes was out working in Montana and we knew each other through a mutual friend. I actually asked him if he would like to caddie for me at the US Open … and he said ‘well that’s a stupid question, of course I would!’,” recalled the KL-born Jean during Episode 16 of The Sweet Spot, a Facebook Live show by Gila Golfers in collaboration with ParGolf.
“He was great! He knew so much more about golf than I did, even though I played it but I was still kind of a rookie. He started golf a lot earlier than I did; I started when I was 14 and he started when he was five or six.”
The memories are especially poignant now as the couple recently welcomed their first child, Max Xander, on November 24. Parenthood, Jean shared, has been quite an adjustment but well worth the effort.
“We’re adjusting slowly. Wes is finally back to work this week, I’m still on maternity leave, so it’s definitely a full-time job … but enjoying it and trying to adjust. It’s tough because they can’t tell you what’s wrong, all they can do is cry! So now I’m googling all the different sounds of crying, like if this cry means what, if that cry means what, so it’s been fun,” said Jean.
The Griswolds live in St Petersburg, Florida where Jean works for manufacturing services company Jabil as chief of staff – ESG. Having hung up her clubs in 2017 due to chronic elbow injuries, she did an MBA at University of South Florida and is now a full-fledged working mum.
“I finally understand what they mean when they said babies are cutest when they’re sleeping! He’s so peaceful and cute … but then when he’s awake! Been running on almost two hours of sleep every night, if I’m lucky,” laughed Jean, who turned 33 on August 29.
Not too long ago, starting a family had seemed a world away for Jean. Golf was then her consuming passion and profession, having turned pro in 2009 after a stellar amateur career as a stalwart of the Malaysian national team and subsequently on the US college circuit for Wake Forest University in North Carolina. Jean won in her first pro start at the Thai LPGA Open in Pattaya and subsequently lived the life of a tour player for eight years, splitting her time between the LPGA’s secondary circuit, the Symetra Tour and other circuits in this region.
“Wes caddied for me on tour for about three years and then he went and did his MBA. We travelled everywhere and it was fun. We got to go to India, we got to go to Australia, New Zealand … surprisingly we didn’t kill each other and we’re married nine years later!
“He caddied for me three times at the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia; that was good, that was fun … and he got to meet my parents!” recalled Jean, whose CV includes two runner-up finishes on the Symetra Tour.
But the 2011 US Women’s Open remains the icing on the cake of Jean’s relatively brief but eventful playing career. Having surged up the leaderboard with a second round 69, she was grouped with Taiwan’s Yani Tseng and Norway’s Suzann Pettersen – then ranked No 1 and 3 in the world – for the third round and the fourth as well, due to numerous rain delays which saw players remaining in their groups over the weekend for quick turnarounds.
“I had a great time and learnt a lot from Yani and Suzann. I grew up playing with Yani so it wasn’t as bad, but playing with Suzann was pretty intimidating,” reminisced Jean.
“They were both two of the longest hitters on tour at that time. There were par-fours where you know, Yani’s going, ‘shall we go with an iron or shall we go with a knock-down three-wood’ and we were just trying to hit the driver as hard as we can to get it there! And they’re taking different lines but the experience was amazing.”
Jean added that it was the atmosphere of the world’s oldest women’s Major that made it so special. “It’s just different, the atmosphere, you know the aura, the people … they don’t care who you are, they’ll cheer!
And the experience was made all the more memorable by the fact that Jean actually hit a spectator with an errant drive on the first hole during round 3! She recalls: “There was not a single space on the entire par four. I’m standing there on the teebox, shaking, it’s like a tunnel, you know, like you see on TV. I said to myself, ‘please don’t hit somebody, please don’t hit somebody!’ I teed off and it actually curved a little and did end up hitting somebody out on the left side!
“I’m over there, she was on the ground. She had to go to the emergency room but she was all good. She came out to watch the No 1 and No 3 and then suddenly some unknown hit her!”
These are just some of the tales that Jean and Wes will no doubt share with baby Max once he’s old enough. And with his good golfing genes not only from mum but from dad who was on the Winston-Salem State University team, it’s a no-brainer that baby Max will find a golf club in his hands pretty soon.
“Dad is actually a more avid golfer than me … Wes loves, breathes golf! He knows every golf course that the PGA Tour and the LPGA is played on, he actually follows it more closely than I do,” Jean said.
“So once Max starts crawling, once he starts holding stuff, we’ll give him a golf club! He’ll be out on the golf course pretty soon, very soon!”
And, who knows, in 20 years’ time or so, you might see a player named Max Xander Griswold out on the fairways in a PGA Tour event – with mum or dad on the bag!
Jean Chua was a guest on Episode 16 of The Sweet Spot, a Facebook Live show by Gila Golfers in collaboration with ParGolf. Snippets of the show are embedded below.
