Alena Sharp will be reminded of Dawn Coe-Jones every time she hits a golf ball next week.
Coe-Jones, a member of the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame who helped blaze a trail for Canadian women on the pro tour, has died of cancer at the age of 56. Golf Canada announced on Saturday that she died in hospice near her home in Tampa, Fla., after being diagnosed with bone cancer earlier this year.
Sharp, of Hamilton, is ranked 44th in the LPGA and has had Coe-Jones’s initials written on her golf balls since the CP Canadian Women’s Open in late August as a way of honouring the Canadian golfing legend. Sharp will do it again at the CME Group Tour Championship, the LPGA’s season-ending event.
"I definitely will do it this week at CME and definitely going to play for her this week and do my best and have her in my thoughts all week," said Sharp from her home in Phoenix on Saturday before heading to Naples, Fla., for the CME.
Coe-Jones, from Lake Cowichan, B.C., played on the LPGA Tour from 1984 to 2008. She won more than US$3.3 million on the circuit with three victories and 44 career top-10 finishes. She was inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame in 2003.
"Dawn touched so many people," said Gail Graham, who played alongside Coe-Jones at Lamar University and on the LPGA Tour. "She was always the one who worried about others."
Sharp said that Graham had shared photos of the DCJ-initialled golf balls with Coe-Jones and that she had been touched by the gesture.
"I think she was one of the legends of Canadian golf even though she’s so young," said Sharp, who will be staying with Graham during the CME. "She was just always there to help people and offer advice. She was inspiring to all of us."
As word of Coe-Jones’s death rippled through the golf world, many posted on social media.
Fellow Hall of Famer Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., called Coe-Jones a "great player & competitor & wonderful lady!" in a tweet.
PGA Tour member David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., tweeted: "Very saddened to hear of the passing of Dawn Coe-Jones. She was a great player and role model for so many Canadians. You will be missed Dawn."
Former LPGA Tour pro A.J. Eathorne of Penticton, B.C., posted a photo collage of her and Coe-Jones on her Instagram account.
"A very sad day today as we say good bye to our dear friend Dawn Coe Jones," the caption read. "One of the most caring and wonderful women I have ever met. I am so lucky to have got to spend so many great times with her and her family. Love you always Miss Dawn."
Coe-Jones was diagnosed in mid-March with dedifferentiated chondrosarcoma that required full knee and partial tibia replacement surgery.
"The LPGA Legends are heartbroken about the loss of our great friend, Dawn, who fought a valiant fight over the past few months against a rare form of sarcoma," said Jane Blalock, CEO of The Legends Tour. "Dawn was truly a player and a person admired, respected and loved by all of us who had the fortune to know and play alongside her. This is indeed, a very sad day."
During the Dawn Coe-Jones Golf Classic in Tampa on Oct. 14 — a golf fundraiser for sarcoma research — Coe-Jones was honoured as the recipient of the 2016 Colleen Walker Spirit Award. The award is presented each year to recognize a Legends Tour Player who best exemplifies Walker’s spirit, courage and love of the game. A nine-time LPGA Tour winner, Walker died of cancer in December 2012.
Coe-Jones had an outstanding amateur career, scoring back-to-back wins in the B.C. Junior tournament in 1978 and 1979 and the B.C. Amateur in 1982 and 1983. She capped her 1983 season with the Canadian Amateur title and won NCAA all-American honours at Lamar University.
Her first LPGA win came at the Women’s Kemper Open in 1992. She went on to claim the 1994 LPGA Palm Beach Classic and 1995 Tournament of Champions.
A fervent Montreal Canadiens fan, she savoured getting a Habs jersey with No. 1 on the back after winning the Tournament of Champions.
Coe-Jones made her farewell appearance at the CN Canadian Open in 2008 with her trademark beaming smile despite finishing 14-over after two rounds and missing the cut. She was accompanied by caddie and childhood friend Kelly Feltrin, who was on her bag when she won the Kemper Open, for that final tournament.
Coe-Jones’ best chance to win her national Open was in 1993, when she was third behind Brandie Burton and Betsy King at London Hunt. She tied for fourth with Canadian Gail Graham in 1998 in Windsor, Ont.
"I feel very proud of my career," Coe-Jones said in 2008. "I wish everyone who was ever out here had that opportunity to walk up 18 and be the winner just once.
"It’s a wonderful feeling to be the best in your field one time. I was lucky enough to have it three times."
She married Jimmy Jones in 1992 and their son James was born three years later.
"On behalf of the entire golf community we are deeply saddened by the passing of Dawn Coe-Jones," Golf Canada CEO Scott Simmons said in a statement. "Dawn was a tenacious competitor, a mentor and friend to so many of her peers and a proud ambassador for Canadian golf throughout her distinguished career.
"As we mourn her passing and send our most sincere condolences to family and friends, the golf and sport community come together in celebrating her outstanding legacy."
— With files from The Associated Press
