By Erica Henry

Darton College assistant golf coach Bill Jones III qualified for the U.S. Amateur Championships to be held in Washington on Aug. 23-29. The Amateur is hosted by Cambridge Bay Golf Club in University Place, Wash.

Jones qualified earlier this month by posting  rounds of 69 and 66.

“I was a having a pretty normal summer until this,” said Coach Jones. “I’m excited and really looking forward to the experience.”

This is the first time he has qualified for the event. The qualifying rounds were held at Piedmont Driving Club in Atlanta.

“It’s going to be pretty tough to balance both coaching and competing,” said Jones.

“The team will be here in a few weeks and I have to help them get settled as well as focus on my game.”

Jones competed collegiately at Darton College and Mercer University.

While at Darton, he was team captain and also was a part of the 2007 ntional hampionship team.

Jones collected several top-ier accolades, such as: National Championship Individual Medalist (2007), Student-Athlete of the Year, First-team NJCAA All-American, First-Team PING All-American, Palmer Award winner and two-time Academic All-American.

In 2009 at Mercer, Jones was named Athlete of the Year.

I’m so proud of that guy,” Dover said of Jones, “Bill has been such a big help to me this year and this is a big-time accomplishment for him.  I guess will just have to manage without my assistant coach for a little while.”

“I am happy that my game came together when it mattered most,” said Coach Jones. “Now I have to concentrate really hard on my game and make the most of the rest of the summer.”

The U.S. Amateur begins on Aug. 23 and there are 312 players participating. The first two rounds will be stroke play. The top 64 will advance and match play thru the end of the tournament.