Karen Corr
Karen Corr has won the WPBA Satellite event held at Borderline
Billiards in Bristol, TN by overcoming both an incredible field and her
own health issues. In fact, Karen had considered forfeiting out of the
event on Sunday morning because she felt so poorly. But she rested for
a few minutes between her matches and came out so strong in her last
two matches that most in the crowd had no idea that she was under the
weather.
Karen, with her understated ego and shy nature,
actually went under the radar for much of the event. The crowds were
abuzz with talk about how well four other players - Julie Kelly, Monica
Webb, Ewa Laurance and Gerda Hofstatter - were playing. Ms. Kelly keeps
a list of the top players that she wants to conquer and the last big
name on that list was Kelly Fisher. The two came together near the end
of the winner's bracket and Fisher fell to Kelly 9-7. Accomplishing
that goal was great for Kelly, but then she ran headlong into Gerda
Hofstatter and Hofstatter spat in her tea by sending Kelly left with a
9-5 score-line.
Ewa Laurance has been working on her game and the
effort paid off with some fine wins in Bristol. Ewa began turning heads
when she demolished Megan Smith 9-4 just after Smith had defeated none
other than Allison Fisher 9-7! Ewa then had to fight with Gerda
Hofstatter and lost that battle to head over to the losers side. But
there her stars began to shine again when she took Val Finnie down 7-6
and then eliminated Allison from the event by sending her home 7-5.
Ewa's fine run ended in the next round when Monica Webb out-stroked her
7-5.
Monica Webb had suffered a draw into a very tough
section of the brackets and she was surviving the early rounds with
gusto. She got past Belinda Calhoun 9-5, then dismantled the powerful
cue of Iris Ranola 9-4 before being tossed over to the other side 9-5
by Karen Corr. Monica then ended the tournament for both Ewa Laurance
as mentioned above and Julie Kelly 7-2. Monica looked good to take
another win in this very fine year for her but Karen Corr was her last
hurdle on the loser's side and she could not clear that height as Karen
surgically dismantled her 7-3.
And that was when folks began to believe that Karen
could overcome her health problems and win this thing. Still, Gerda was
favored. Hofstatter had not tasted any defeats all week. Her toughest
match of the week was her very first one against Kim Jones. "I should
have lost that one", she told us. "Kim had me down 8-7 and then
everything turned around as Kim made some mistakes that just handed me
the last two racks. I was lucky to get past her." Once that hill was
climbed, Gerda went on a tear through the rest of the brackets. She
took the big names down hardest as she busted Line Kjoersvik 9-4, Ewa
Laurance 9-3, Julie Kelly 9-5 and then Karen Corr 9-7.
So when the final match turned out to be a rematch
between Corr and Hofstatter, the edge seemed to be on the side of
Hofstatter. So much for edges. Karen blasted out of the gate to take a
5-0 lead and Hofstatter had virtually no opportunities for a comeback
the entire match. Corr dominated control of the table and Hofstatter
usually only rose from her chair to attempt a tough kick shot or two.
Karen Corr proved once again that no player on the planet can look past
her, no matter how she feels at the moment.
Thanks go out to Borderline Billiards and the
proprietors there, Janet Atwell and Annette Estes. They have a
beautiful room with great food and drink and the crowds appreciated
both the amenities and the fine hospitality. Thanks also to
Pooldawg.com for their sponsorship of the video streaming and to all of
the marvelous ladies who served as our volunteer commentators. Special
thanks go out to Leanne Amable and Brittany Bryant for shouldering the
majority of those duties.
