Karen Corr
As the Action Pool Tour's seventh stop advanced to its winners' side semifinals, it became possible that not only could a woman emerge as the event champion, there might be two of them in the finals. Only one, Karen Corr, made it, returning from a loss in the hot seat, meeting and defeating Brett Stottlemyer in the finals and becoming the first woman to win a stop on the Action Pool Tour. The event, held on the weekend of September 10-11, drew 66 entrants to Breakers Sky Lounge in Herndon, VA.
Corr's seven-match march to the winners' circle was no walk in the park. Though she'd win her first three by an aggregate score of 21-6, defeating Bryan Proctor (3), Jimmy Coleman (2) and Steve Fleming (1), she won her next two 14-9 against Alan Duty (4) and in a winners' side semifinal, Shaun Wilkie (5), both among the tour's top 10 players. In comparison, Stottlemyer's six-match path to the hot seat began with a double hill scare versus Greg Sabins. Things smoothed out a bit, as Stottlemyer went on to defeat Bruce Gardner (3), Eric Moore (2), Amit Kumar (4), and in the other winners' side semifinal, the other woman in the hunt for a first APT championship, Tina Malm (3). As the hot seat match between Stottlemyer and Corr got underway, it was "Advantage Miss Corr" - 35-15 over Stottlemyer 35-18. That changed to "Advantage Mr. Stottlemyer" as he took the hot seat match 7-5 and waited on Corr's return.
On the loss side, Malm had the misfortune of opening her bid to become part of an all-woman final against Corr by running into the Action Pool Tour's #1-ranked player, Brandon Shuff, looking for his fourth trip to an APT final and second win of the season. Shuff had been defeated by Eric Moore (the #3-ranked player on the tour) 7-4 in his opening round, and was in the midst of an eight-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him as far as the quarterfinals. Two of the eight went double hill. Wins #5 and #6 came at the expense of Alan Duty and a successful re-match against Moore, both 6-4 wins. Wilkie, in the meantime, the tour's #2-ranked player, picked up Kenny Miller (who'd end up at the conclusion of this stop as the #4-ranked player on the tour). Miller had been sent to the loss side by Malm in a winners' side quarterfinal, and defeated Will Moon and Danny Mastermaker, both 6-4.
Shuff chalked up his last win over Malm 6-2, as Wilkie, by the same score, was eliminated by Miller. Miller advanced one more step, defeating Shuff in the quarterfinals 6-4, before running into the apparently determined Corr in the semifinals. She earned her second shot against Stottlemyer, waiting for her in the hot seat, with a 6-3 win over Miller in those semifinals.
Combined, Corr and Stottlemyer had been a part of the seven-stop, APT season only three times. Corr was making her first appearance, while Stottlemyer was making his second (he placed fourth in the opening stop). Corr became the first victorious female on the APT tour with a commanding 9-4 win over Stottlemyer in the finals.
