For the first time ever, the two tour coordinators of the Jacoby Cues Great Lakes Tour faced each other in the finals of one of their tour stops. While both players have won previous events before, they had only come across one another in earlier rounds of the past tournaments.
This event was the fourth stop this year for the Jacoby Cues Great Lakes Tour. It was held November 20-21 in Holland, MI at Guppies, which just opened its doors on November 1, 2004. The beautiful venue accommodated players with a full restaurant and bar, as well as six brand-new Diamond nine-foot tables and eleven bar boxes. Owners Candy and Jerry Thomas worked very hard to ensure a smooth-running event and great service for its patrons.
The field included strong players from all over the Midwest. Rim, who resides in Clinton Township, MI, made her way to the hot seat match by defeating fellow WPBA Touring Pro Gail Grecar 7-5, Melman 7-0, and Sunny Ulrich 7-2. Meanwhile, Tina Meraglio of Concord, Ohio cruised through the winners bracket with wins over Caryn Stroh 7-3, Ava Overman 7-6, and Julie Ekman 7-1. The hot seat match was an exciting one with Rim and Meraglio going neck and neck the entire time. In the end, it was Rim who won the match by the close score of 7-6.
While Meraglio waited for her next opponent, Melman of Adrian, MI, worked her way through the B side after her loss to Rim. She defeated Angela Mears 7-5, Sheri Cole 7-3, Julie Ekman 7-3 and Grecar 7-4. In the semifinals, Meraglio took the lead at 3-1, but Melman fought back and won the match 7-4.
In the finals, Rim and Melman battled it out with neither player gaining more than a two game lead. After the score was tied at 5-5, they traded every other game with Melman winning the match by the score of 9-8.
Thanks go out to Nineballking.com, Atlas Billiard Supplies, Championship Cloth, Midwest Amusements, Cashindropoff.com, and Bebob Publishing for sponsoring the event. Media sponsors include: azbilliards.com, Professor Q-Ball, Inside English Magazine, Pool and Billiard Magazine, Billiards Digest, Chalk and Cue, National Billiard News, Inside Pool and toledopool.com.
Top Finishers:
1. Julie Melman $400
2. Alice Rim $275
3. Tina Meraglio $180
4. Gail Grecar $125
5-6. Sunny Ulrich, Julie Ekman $75
