"I wasn't expecting too much. I just wanted to shoot under 80," said the three handicapper last night after carding a gross 225 following three rounds at the Napier Golf Club course to beat fellow Hawke's Bay/Poverty Bay representative Tessa McDonald, of Gisborne, by six strokes.
So this is how it panned out after Jones graduated as a qualified nurse from the Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT) to head to the big smoke to work at the orthopaedic department of Auckland City Hospital in Grafton in 2014.
"I met my boyfriend [Duncan Morrison] about a year ago while I worked there for 18 months," she said of the champion orienteer from the Bay, whom she had never met while growing up in Otane.
The former Central Hawke's Bay College pupil later found out their parents - Sheree and Bruce Jones, and Val and Derek Morrison - were acquainted before their children's paths crossed.
"My grandfather, Jock Jones, of Otane, employed Duncan's father at the milk producers," she explained. "Yes, it's tiny old New Zealand so it's all so crazy."
Both sets of parents cheered her on throughout the weekend and her boyfriend lugged her golf bag.
"Duncan really loves golf and he's only started playing. In fact, he got his first handicap a week ago," she said.
The reason Jones returned home was because her boyfriend got a job with insurance firm Aon in the Bay, "so why not return"?
So that's the job and boyfriend factors accounted for but what about the coach?
She consulted Hastings PGA professional Brian Doyle last Monday for the first time in more than two years.
"He tweaked a few things and it worked. He's just a great coach."
Post-lesson Jones focused on two things:
1) In her swing she was hitting down on the ball "like a cut shot, rather than around my body".
2) Staying in the present.
The Hastings Golf Club member, who also is a country member with Waipawa Golf Club, has had no qualms about the No2 factor.
While in Auckland, Jones became a member of the Akarana Golf Club where she played a few rounds but her prowess was never under scrutiny.
"I won the club championship and then helped the women's pennants team win for the first time around April," said Jones, who only last week started hitting balls every day following Doyle's lesson.
"In Auckland, I felt like an old girl but here, I feel young again so that's nice," she said, reflecting on the crop of teenagers who tends to call the shots further north.
On Saturday morning here, she had no designs on winning the title but set a reasonable top-three finish goal.
She and McDonald set the pace after two rounds on Saturday but, in the final round yesterday morning, the nerves kicked in as the pair let veteran Janie Field and Bay representative Sara Deam close the gap.
However, Jones decided to stop the rot, peeling off a few birdies in a row and "taking control of my own game" in a field that included fairway savvy players such as veteran Kathy Olsen, runner up to Deam for the stableford division bragging rights.
So where did another imposing nurse, Kate Chadwick, finish?
"Kate's doing her big OE," Jones explained, revealing the former NZ Maori champion and multiple Kai Tareha crown winner was working in Australia since early this year but was in London for the past few weeks.
Needless to say, Jones plans to become HBPB No1 although, like Chadwick and other young amateurs, they have a career and life to put on thepriority list as well.
Kerry Mountcastle (Masterton) carded 214 to claim the men's gross title.
According to Napier club professional Andrew Henare, Mountcastle, who has Bay ties before moving to Wairarapa and representing the Wellington rep team, was celebrating his birthday yesterday.
Russell Mitchell, of Maraenui GC, was runner up on 220 while Wellington rep Dean Gray (Masterton GC) also shot 220 but came third on a countback.
Stuart Duff, of Hastings GC, scored 221 in fourth place, after the 53-year-old claimed his maiden Kapi Tareha crown last year in close to two decades of trying.
Tyson Tawera, also of Hastings club, was fifth after scoring 224.
