Sports blog: Warrior Nation
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By JOHN NASH

Villager Sports Editor

WILTON -- Penny Jones is a proud mother who has always swelled with pride every time one of her children would find their way into the local paper.

If it was her first born son, Richard Chute -- who found his athletic prowess the day he dove into a pool -- or her youngest, daughter Stephanie -- who would do hand springs and cart wheels down the fairway as her parents tried to play a round of golf -- their accomplishments as competitors and athletes always meant something special to her.

These days, though, 29-year-old Richard has graduated from college, started his career and bought his first house. Her 18-year-old daughter, Stephanie, who two years ago helped lead Wilton High to the State Class M gymnastics championship, has hung up her leotard and is heading off to Syracuse University for her freshman year in college this fall.

The competitor in the family is now mom -- Penny Jones, of the Rolling Hills Country Club, who at 59 years of age is one of the state's up-and-coming amateur women golfers.

Last week at the Oronoque Country Club in Stratford, Jones placed in a three-way tie for seventh during the 2010 Connecticut Women's Golf State Amateur.

It was the fourth time she had played the tournament in five years and it was by far the best showing for Jones, who started playing golf two decades ago.

"I'm trying to get better," she said. "That's the name of the game."

When she first built up the nerve to try and play in a State Women's Amateur, in the summer of 2006, Jones shot a three-round total of 279 (average rounds of 93) and finished way back in the field.

Two years later, she tried again and placed 33rd with a three-round total of 262. One year after that she tied for 20th with a 250.

"I always thought this tournament was something that I wanted to play in, but I always felt I wasn't ready for that level," Jones said. "It's only probably been in the last five years where I've felt like I'm at a level where I can compete."

Which brings us to the golf season of 2010, where Jones juggled as much golf as she could play around her daughter's senior year schedule, including proms, graduations and other needs. Adding to the disarray was the fact she was balancing her dual role as Second Vice President and Head of Competition of the CWGA.

Still, she went out -- shot a tournament best 78 on the second day -- and finished tied for seventh in the best state tournament performance of her career.

"This year has kind of felt like it's a lost year," said Jones, who will become president of CWGA in October. "This last two weeks has been the best I've played all year."

Jones was a tennis player growing up in Michigan, just outside Detroit. She played in both high school and college, until she got married when she would only play recreationally.

After spending two years in Japan, she and her husband settled in Connecticut.

"I played a lot of tennis when I moved (to Wilton)," Jones said. "I played at Four Seasons (Racquet Club). I had always been a tennis player."

It took a tragic of turn of events in her life to lead Jones to the fairway.

In May of 1985, Jones' first husband, Richard Chute II, whom she had married during her days in Michigan, was killed in an auto accident in Weston.

It was only years later, after she got re-married to a golfing second husband, that she first picked up a club.

"I met my current husband and put the tennis racquet in the closet," she said.

Her new game, she realized, didn't just challenge the body the way tennis did. It also challenged her mind and she found it to be a different game every time out.

"I think it's always a new challenge," she said. "Every time you go out there -- and it's a game where you can go out by yourself -- it's you against the grass, it's you against the course and I find that very addictive.

"It's a very humbling game, too," she added. "You can play the same course seven times in seven days and it plays seven different ways and you'll come up with seven different scores."

Over the last five years, Jones' scores have gotten lower and lower. Her love for the game, meanwhile, has gotten stronger with each passing year.

And while her children may not find themselves in the newspaper for their athletic exploits anymore, their mom, Penny Jones, might be shooting her way into more and more newspapers as she keeps playing, keeps improving and keeps enjoying the game of her life one shot at a time.

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