It's par for this company to set U.S. Open records.

• Position: Brief Article

Reg Jones aced golf's top the tournament his first time out. The 1999 U.S. Open in Pinehurst was the biggest sports event in Tar Heel history, its impact estimated at $150 million. Now, as vice president of championships for Pinehurst Championship Management Inc., Jones, 33, is determined not to choke when the Open comes back in 2005. He's in charge of planning it.

He also is managing the U.S. Women's Open, May 31-June 3, in Southern Pines. By late March, he had sold $2.4 million in corporate sponsorships, ahead of last year's record by 33%. And he expected to shatter the attendance record of 109,492 set in Oregon in 1987.

Pinehurst Championship Management, formed in 1991, is a subsidiary of Pinehurst Group Inc., a division of Dallas-based ClubCorp Inc. Pinehurst Championship Management, with a staff of 10, charges tournament hosts a flat fee -- undisclosed -- and percentage of sales and net revenue.

A Henderson native, Jones first tried banking, reviewing loans for a year at a First Citizens branch in Raleigh after earning a business degree from Wake Forest in 1990. Then he turned to golf. After two...