How a chicken farm in Georgia shaped this LPGA rookie's big-hitting career

USA Today

26-03-2025

How a chicken farm in Georgia shaped this LPGA rookie's big-hitting career
It's 190 yards from the back of the house to the front of the Bae family chicken farm. Grown-up Jenny Bae maxes out at a 3-hybrid from that distance. As a kid, Jenny's favorite thing to do on the farm was ride around on the tractor with her father when it was time to mow the grass. Jenny's job was to collect the golf balls.
When the pandemic hit 0while Jenny was in college at the University of Georgia, the Bae's private range proved a godsend. The family chicken farm in tiny Maysville, Georgia, has provided for the Bae family for decades. Now, the chickens are impacting Bae's golf career in ways the family never imagined.
For over 10 years, Peter and Hannah Bae have been growing for Wayne-Sanderson Farms, raising more than 450,000 chickens a year on their midsize farm. Last year, as Jenny embarked on her second year on the Epson Tour and money ran tight, Wayne-Sanderson offered to partner in a different way – as Jenny's sponsor.
The relationship began in the summer of 2024, and Jenny won the Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout soon after, helping secure her LPGA card for the 2025 season.
As the 23-year-old LPGA rookie makes her second start of the season at this week's Ford Championship in Chandler, Arizona, paying the bills is one less thing on her mind.
'I don't have to worry about the different prices for fights and car rentals and where I need to go,' said Jenny, who signed with Epoch Sports Group when she turned pro. 'That much money can at least cover my travel expenses for the year. I can go out there and play the best golf that I can without having to worry about how much money I make per week.'
Financial security is a luxury on the LPGA, and for Wayne-Sanderson, the nation's third-largest poultry producer, this is a unique and personal partnership. There are no plans to expand the athlete roster either, said Jeremy Kilburn, Wayne-Sanderson Farms' chief legal and compliance officer, who played a key role in the process.
'I know she was feeling the weight of her parents' dreams and hers too,' said Kilburn. 'For us, it just made so much sense to partner with them on this.'
Jenny wears the Wayne-Sanderson Farms logo on her shirt and bag and has always been amazed by the number of people who ask if she gets free eggs or knows anything about the rising price of eggs. The chickens actually leave the farm when they're 58 days old. The Baes produce around 5 million pounds of chicken a year for Wayne-Sanderson.
There was a time, when Jenny was 5 or 6 years old, that she convinced her parents to let her keep a chick in the house for a few days.
'I would love going in (the chicken house) and petting them," she said, "because they are so soft and warm."
Her parents run the farm on their own, just the two of them, which means Peter will be tending to the chickens most of the year, and Mom will get to travel some.
Mark Thompson, a Wayne-Sanderson Farms field representative who works with the family day-to-day to help manage the operation, said the Baes have a high ranking within the company.
'Not only is she a really good golfer,' said Thompson, 'her parents are a really, really good chicken growers. They perform at a high level as a family.'
Jenny took up the game at age 3 with a set of plastic Snoopy clubs like the ones sold at Walmart. It wasn't long before a coach spotted her talent, and her South Korean-born parents – who both played golf – began to offer more opportunities.
The first time Jun Yum gave Jenny a lesson, her mother asked if there was a way he could keep her from jumping when she hit the ball. Yum told her she'd need to find a different coach for that. That's exactly what he wanted her to do – use the ground.
At 5-foot-3, Jenny's super-sized length is bound to turn some heads this season. She averages around 280 yards off the tee, carrying it more than 250 yards. It was in college that the hard-swinging Jenny really started to put on distance as the weight room became part of her routine. For context, consider that only four players on tour last year averaged over 280 yards.
Growing up, Jenny never really cared too much about the technical side of the game. She only cared about one thing – where the ball was going.
'She was one of those that you knew she was a player,' said Yum. 'She wasn't a swinger, and you know that's a coach's dream, where they care more about performing than they care about what it looks like.'
While at Georgia, she made frequent trips to the Country Club of the South in Johns Creek to see Yum in between tournaments. Those tuneups helped keep her sharp as she shattered Georgia's single-season scoring average her senior year, compiling a 70.75 mark and earning the Juli Inkster Award as the nation's top golfer in her final season of eligibility.
The Inkster Award came with an exemption to compete in the LPGA Portland Classic and a sizable $50,000 prize, used to fund her travel and a mentorship retreat with the LPGA and World Golf Hall of Famer. She spent time in the California desert with Inkster, playing golf with major champions Pat Hurst, Danielle Kang and In Gee Chun.
And notably, the Inkster helpline has remained open ever since, for important conversations about hard times and self-doubt.
Jenny first stepped into the national spotlight in 2023, when she squared off against Rose Zhang in the final round of the Augusta National Women's Amateur. Former Georgia coach Josh Brewer, who was on the bag that week, still thinks about what he might have done differently during that playoff on a regular basis.
'It's easy to second-guess,' said Brewer. 'I also believe that Augusta National picks its winners.'
On that Saturday, the Georgia native lost to one of the best amateur players in the history of the game. But the back-nine roars Brewer heard that afternoon made the hair on his arms stand up straight.
For Jenny, the loss still stings, said Yum, who is constantly preaching to her that she's not learning enough from her experiences. Each time she takes a step up, he said, there's a period of significant stress as she worries too much about how she'll stack up.
Once the wow factor subsides a bit this year, Yum believes his player has enough talent to go toe-to-toe with anyone.
The key, he said, is to get her swing more fundamentally sound so that she doesn't have to rely so much on timing and his presence. They've been working at it since the Epson Tour season ended last fall and have made substantial progress.
'I'm hoping it's at least 75 to 80 percent in by the Chevron in another month,' said Yum.
A three-time winner on the Epson Tour, Brewer described his former star as reserved and stoic, from an outsider's perspective. She typically has one earbud in during practice, listening to everything from country music to K-pop. Those who get inside the bubble see a more fun and talkative side.
The immediate goal for Jenny is to make her first cut as an LPGA member and earn a paycheck. That would go a long way toward earning a berth in the season's first major. She reminds herself daily, however, of the bigger goal for 2025 – to take it slow and enjoy as much as possible.
A mission that's no doubt made easier with her farm family by her side.