RENO, Nev. (AP) - The former director of marketing and sales at LakeRidge Golf Course in Reno has been named the new executive director of the PGA Tour's Reno-Tahoe Open.
Jana Smoley becomes the fourth director of the 12-year-old tourney and the third in four years. She replaces Michael Stearns, who resigned in October.
Smoley, a former advertising manager at the Reno Gazette-Journal and a member of the tournament's board of directors for five years, said her first priority is to find a new sponsor for the tournament.
"We have literally been pounding the pavement," she said.
RED Development, the builder of the Legends at Sparks Marina, has been the title sponsor the past two years but tournament officials said they do not expect the Kansas City-based developer to pick up an option for a third year.
The tournament is scheduled next summer for July 15-18 at Montreux Golf & Country Club.
Reno-Tahoe Open Foundation Chairman John Sande III said he and state Sen. Randolf Townsend, a member of the board, asked PGA Tour officials for advice on who to hire.
"Randolph and I were thinking Jana would be perfect," Sande said. "We went to the PGA and asked, 'Do you have any recommendations out there?' And they came back to us and said, 'We think you've got the perfect person in Jana."'
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