CJ Jerome might have had the hot hand for most of the 2006 WPBA.com Regional Tour Championship, but in the end it was home field advantage that proved the clincher as Bonnie Coats scored a hill-hill win in front of a packed house of friendly faces in her home room to win the title.
Coats, who plays regularly out of host location Cunningham's Pool & Darts in Vero Beach Florida, scored impressive wins over Michelle Ram, Caroline Pao and Lisa D'Atri before falling to Jerome 7-1 on Sunday morning. Jerome went on to take the hot-seat with a 7-4 win over Heather Lloyd (formerly Pulford).
Coats worked her way through the one loss side with wins over Debbie Schjodt, Crystal McCormick and Lloyd to earn her spot in the finals.
Jerome took an early lead in the extended single race finals and got to the hill first. Coats came back and tied the score at hill-hill to force one game for the title. The home tables turned out to be rolling in Coats favor as she missed a ball mid rack but left Jerome hooked. Jerome went for a kick and failed to hit the object ball, giving up ball in hand with 5 balls on the table for Coats. That was the end for Jerome as Coats ran out the final balls for the victory.
Coats earned paid entry into all seven WPBA Classic Tour events, while Jerome settled for $500 in second place prize money. Heather Lloyd and Crystal McCormick filled out the top four spots.
Follow all of the results with our online brackets, and look for an online photo gallery later in the week.
Complete Results:
1st Bonnie Coats Paid Entry to seven WPBA events
2nd CJ Jerome $500
3rd Heather Lloyd $400
4th Crystal McCormick $350
5th/6th Debbie Schjodt, Ellen Van Buren $275
7th/8th Amanda Lampert, Morgan Steinman $200
9th/12th Susan Mello, Jessica Barnes, Michelle Ram, Lisa D'Atri $175
13th/16th Karen Armstrong, Grace Nakamura, Jennifer Kraber, Leslie Anne Rogers $150
17th/24th Caroline Pao, Niki Rasmussen, Liz Taylor, Kathy Friend, Helene Caukin, Sherry Pouncey, Val Finney, Gina Kim Lipsky $125
25th/32nd Amber Stone, Kathy Metzinger, Susan Williams, Bonnie Saritelli, Sharlene Watkinson, Stephanie Mitchell, Susan Wilbur, Tara McCracken $100
Photo courtesy of Roberta Case
