There's nothing like winning your hometown tournament.
In hockey, Cody Bailey did that last year when his Coast Inn of the North Cougars hosted the Tier 1 midget provincial tournament at Kin 1 and won it.
In golf, a few months later, he locked up bragging rights as the city champion when he captured the Junior Simon Fraser Open title, winning by eight strokes over Natasha Kozlowski, his co-worker in the pro shop at the Prince George Golf and Curling Club.
Bailey, a hockey centre, helped his team reach its third-straight provincial final, vying for a third consecutive provincial crown, but the Cougars lost 4-2 to the Vancouver Thunderbirds and had to settle for silver at the tournament in Fort St. John.
The late start to the season due to a snow-covered course in April means he hasn't spent as much time as he'd like working on his golf game but he's not too worried, heading into his first tournament of the season.
"It's getting there, I'm a little bit rusty, I just finished playing hockey but I've been practicing a lot more," said Bailey. "I've been playing once or twice a week but now I'm playing every day and getting into the swing of things again, so that's good."
Bailey has grown up knowing about the Junior Simon Fraser and for as long as he's been playing the game he's wanted to get his name on the trophy, which he did last year.
"It felt great - it's the home tournament and everyone around wants to win it," he said. "I just came in to the tournament thinking I had a really good chance of winning and came prepared and blew the field away."
Kozlowski is also back for another crack at the title. She and Bailey are among 16 golfers entered in the tournament.
"We work together and we're pretty good friends, we practice all the time together," said Bailey.
The two-round tournament starts today at 10:15 a.m.
