The Late Dawn Coe-Jones Honored At CP Women's Open

Dawn Coe-Jones (DC-J) played a major role in spreading and encouraging women’s golf in Canada through her performances in the 90s. At that point of time, there were not a lot of Canadian women playing golf professionally but DC-J burst on to the scene and inspired hundreds of Canadian women to become professional golfers. She is a member of the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame.

DC-J was the first Canadian female golfer to surpass $1 million in prize money and would go on to finish with more than $3 million in career prize money.

A native of British Columbia, she would go on to win 3 LPGA tours and compete in more than 20 Canadian Women’s Open. She battled a type of bone cancer known as chondrosarcoma and passed away on November 12, 2016 at the age of 56.

Canadian women golfers paid tribute to DC-J at the recent CP Women's Open in honor of her memory and the impact that she had on their lives and sport. One of those players was Alena Sharp who had a yellow ribbon monogrammed with the initials DC-J pinned to her hat. She also wrote those initials on her golf balls to pay tribute to one of the pioneers in Canadian women’s golf. There were also a number of people in the crowd who were also sporting yellow ribbons to honor DC-J.

In a statement, Sharp said

I'm really happy to see everybody wearing the ribbons this week and honoring her. It's a great tribute. It's just so sad that someone that young and that healthy can have that kind of bad luck. She's not with us anymore, which is so sad

Lori Kane who was a close friend of DC-J was happy to see so many female golfers and fans pay tribute to her friend. Kane said that DC-J’s husband and son would appreciate the gesture very much and remember how much Dawn Coe-Jones was loved and appreciated.

Golf Fans at the CP Women's Open were also happy to see superstar and local girl Brooke Henderson take to the green. She did not have an impressive first round at 3 over par along with Jennifer Ha who is from Calgary. Henderson remained positive despite a poor first round and said that a good night’s sleep should help her recover and focus better for the second round.