Reynolds fired a 2-under-par 69 yesterday in ideal weather at Saucon Valley Country Club to tie Lorena Ochoa, the world's No. 1-ranked player, and Cristie Kerr, the top American on the LPGA money list, for second place, 1 stroke behind 18-hole leader Na Yeon Choi.

The Old Course at Saucon Valley played tough, with Hee Young Park (70) the only other player under par. Six players shot even par, including McDonald's LPGA champion Anna Nordqvist and 14-year-old Alexis Thompson, already playing in her third Women's Open.

The least recognizable name among the subpar shooters had to be the 5-foot-2 Reynolds, who carded four birdies and two bogeys, and followed an interesting road to get to this stage of her career.

Reynolds left the golf team at Georgia after redshirting her freshman year, deciding she'd rather lead the life of the typical college student than follow the team's rigorous practice and travel schedule.

"I looked at it like, five years of that much golf intensity for me, I think I would have burned out very easily," she said, "especially at that time because I wasn't 100 percent into it.

"I enjoyed college. I joined a sorority, and I studied abroad [in Austria], and I had a lot of other things going on besides golf at that time in my life. I enjoyed the five years I had at Georgia, and here I am now."

Reynolds joined the Futures Tour last year and missed the cut in the 2008 Women's Open. But something in her clicked when she saw the championship had been won by Inbee Park, to whom she lost in 22 holes in the quarterfinals of the 2002 U.S. Girls Junior.

"I played against her and I figured, 'Why not?' she said. "If I put the time in, I can probably be here, too."

Reynolds, who plays without a golf glove, hit only seven of 14 fairways but managed to hit 13 greens. One of her birdies came at No. 12, where she holed out of a greenside bunker from 45 feet.

Reynolds has won twice on the Futures Tour this season and owns four other top-three finishes. The top 10 at the end of the season gain exempt status on the LPGA Tour the following year, although the top five get higher status.

"You've got competition and a lot of talent, so coming into a week like this I feel pretty prepared," she said. "It's been definitely a good experience for me."

Choi, 21, who has three top-10 finishes in this, her second LPGA season, birdied her first three holes and got to 5-under for her round after a 60-foot birdie putt at the difficult third hole, her 12th of the day. But she bogeyed Nos. 5 and 6 to fall back.

"I think on a normal day, my confidence could have been shaken up a little bit," Choi said through an interpreter. "But since everything was working so well for me today, it didn't shake my confidence too much."

Choi was one of only four players in the top 11 to play in the afternoon, when the greens got harder and the wind kicked up a bit.

Ochoa, seeking her first Women's Open title, played in the morning and notched four birdies, including a 50-foot putt at the second hole (her 11th of the round) that, she said, "went left to right, right to left, up and down."

"It's always hard, the first round of the Open," she said. "You've got to be 100 percent at 7:30 in the morning. There are a lot of things in your head, and the course is not easy. So I'm happy, and I'm fine. It's just one round at a time. You've got to stay patient."

Kerr, the winner of the 2007 Open at Pine Needles, hit 15 greens and sank birdie putts of 8, 12 and 15 feet. She said she was "as aggressive as I could be today."

Contact staff writer Joe Juliano at 215-854-4494 or jjuliano@phillynews.com.