Third Place Is The Charm

By Kerry Hartsfield Impson,
Former WPBA Touring Pro

Hello again! Well, after practicing really hard for five days (after our 10-day driving vacation to Disneyland) I managed to place third at the NWPA's final stop at the Breaking Point in Lynnwood, WA. By the way, this is probably the most beautiful room in the Puget Sound area! Twelve Brunswick Gold Crowns and six Kim Steele nine-footers, good food and a full bar - not to mention that for the tournament Jonathon Denning, the owner, graciously added $750 to the main event and $750 to the second-chance tournament held on Sunday (for all the players who failed to make it to Sunday in the main event). Everybody had a blast at the NWPA year-end banquet and awards ceremony Saturday night, with the smash hit of the evening being extraordinarily delicious desserts baked by former pro pastry chef and player Mary Hopkin! A very special thank-you to Julie Valdez, Tamré Geené-Rogers, Jo Woodward (NWPA Sportswoman of the Year - GO JO!!), Chris Rogers and Dave Lauer for all their hard work all year.

My first match was literally an escape; my opponent played great, capitalizing on all my mistakes, getting to the hill first; I clawed back to hill-hill and miscued on the eight ball, only to slop it in and nail an ugly, extreme cut shot on the nine-ball. (Whew!) I won my next two matches to end play on Saturday. On Sunday I won my first match and then, in the hot-seat match, I faced super-tough Hsin Huang, the 2004 WPBA Rookie of the Year, who recently came in fourth in two back-to-back WPBA events. Hsin wasn't playing at her usual caliber in the beginning while I started out strong, forging a slight 2-1 lead, when I faced a bit of a decision on an easy five ball: shoot it with follow for simple position on the six, or punch it two rails. After deciding to punch it, I got down and inexplicably two-stroked the shot, jawing it in the pocket. Hsin made quick work of that rack and broke and ran the next, making the score 3-2 Hsin instead of (at least) 3-1 me. Big mistake. After that the momentum completely shifted and she ran out from everywhere to beat me 7-3.

Martha Hartsell emerged as my opponent for the winner of the loser's bracket. Martha has played most of the WPBA events this year by virtue of her 2nd place year-end finish on the NWPA tour last year (the #1 ranked player on each regional tour gets an unpaid invite into every WPBA event the following year, and Hsin, who was #1 on the NWPA tour, won the Regional Tour Championships last year getting a paid spot into every event; therefore, the unpaid spot went to the #2 ranked player). I was playing well and up 4-2 when Martha started playing great, and I never won another game. Down by one game at 5-4 and running out to tie the match, I missed a long but make-able shot on the seven (you can believe I practiced THAT shot about 30 times when I got home), ending my hopes of a rematch with Hsin as Martha won that game and then broke and ran the final rack to beat me 7-4. (The championship match between Martha and Hsin turned into a hill-hill thriller before Hsin negotiated a tricky rack to win the final game.)

Overall, I'm satisfied with my third-place finish and my play during the tournament. Winning the tour stop would definitely have been better, but having missed ten days of practice right before the event I wasn't disappointed to get third. This also clinched second place on the NWPA tour for me (Hsin's stellar performance put her in first again this year); unfortunately, I won't be getting the unpaid invite to every WPBA event in 2005 because I balked at having to pay $150 Pro dues to the WPBA at the beginning of the year. In my defense, at that first event I had only been practicing three weeks and not only didn't expect to do very well my first year back, but also wasn't sure how hard I wanted to try (did I really want to play pro again?). Besides, it seemed a hefty price considering I wasn't playing on the WPBA tour yet - I was painfully aware that if I failed to win a qualifier I might very well have paid $150 for nothing more than a newsletter (which is, in fact, what happened). At any rate, I did finally cough up the money after I surprised myself and won the third stop, putting me at a 400-point disadvantage in WPBA points. But it's not a big deal. I see no point in playing on the pro tour until I'm capable of doing some damage, and based on my performance this year I would have to say I'm definitely not there yet. When my game is good enough to compete on the pro tour, then I will get there; and if my game never gets good enough, then so be it. Ultimately, until such time (if any) that my game is truly electrifying, I'll be savoring each and every moment I share with my kids, basking in their presence, fully aware that possibly, in the not-too-distant future, I may be missing them terribly for several weekends a year.

 

All copyrights are owned by Kerry Hartsfield Impson. No duplication is allowed without her permission.