The annual Dawn Coe-Jones Amateur Junior Open is coming up on July 5. This shot-gun start tournament will begin at 9 a.m. at March Meadows Golf Course in Honeymoon Bay.
The tournament is for junior players under the age of 18, and the handicap factor has to be 32 or less.
This tournament was started in 1986 by Coe-Jones to give back to the kids and to the Lake Cowichan community. “It was a way to showcase March Meadows and show off where I grew up,” explains Coe-Jones.
Coe-Jones was born in Campbell River in 1960. Her family moved to Lake Cowichan shortly after and she began playing golf at the age of 12. Coe-Jones has many tournament titles under her belt, including being a member of team Canada in 2001 which captured the nation’s cup, being the 1995 Chrysler-Plymouth Tournament of Champions champion. In 2003 she was inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame, and in 2011 the B.C. Golf Hall of Fame.
But her career playing in golf tournaments began back in the 1970s when in 1978 and 1979 she was the British Columbia junior champion, and went on to be the B.C. amateur champion in 1982 and 1983, and the Canadian amateur champion in 1983.
Coe-Jones currently lives in Tampa, Florida with her husband Jimmy Jones and their son.
Coe-Jones still plays on the LPGA legends tour, and coaches her son’s team in Florida.
Each year, Coe-Jones puts together the prizes for the tournament. The top winners in both the boys and girls categories receive trophies, and Coe-Jones tries to make sure that every player goes home with some sort of prize.
To make this happen, she asks fellow PGA professionals to help gather golf equipment and other prizes. She says that March Meadows contributes a lot as well. “They work hard,” she says. “I couldn’t do this tournament without them.”
—editor@lakecowichangazette.com