OB Cues Ladies 9-Ball Tour held their 8th and final tour stop December 6th – 7th at Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, Texas. The owner and manager, Jeff Pitts and Tim Gildon and all the bar and wait staff did a wonderful job taking care of all the ladies, a full field of 32 players ready to rack and roll!
At the players meeting, board member Monica Anderson announced yearly awards and a special celebration of the birthday of a beloved and long-time tour member who passed last year, Becky Jones. Becky’s daughter was in attendance and a cake was prepared in Becky’s honor. On the awards side, the sportswomanship award went to Jackie Forster, with a special mention to her travel buddies – four ladies who add a lot of good company and good play to the tour. The most improved player was the “tiny giant killer” Angie Payne, who was last year’s sportswoman of the year. The tour champion was undecided at the outset, but all Tara McCracken Williams needed to do was finish better than 5th/6th and she accomplished more than that, getting second this tournament. Tara also won the qualifier for the WPBA event at Soaring Eagle and will go represent in February!
With exactly 32 players, no one got a bye, and there were some tough matches early on, including past tour stop winners Orietta Strickland and Lisa Marr. Lisa won the match 7-6 but then had to contend with Jennifer Kraber, who’s had a great year, and put Lisa on the loser’s side with a resounding 7-2 win. But Jennifer’s winning ways were short-lived, when she ran into Amanda Lampert, past champion many times over and this year’s outgoing tour champion. The loser’s side quickly became littered with great players, and at the end of Saturday, only four women were left standing on the winner’s side: Amanda Lampert, who would play Julie Stephenson on Sunday, and Michelle Cortez, who would be up against Chris Fields, who came all the way from Florida.
Sunday’s B-side matches were Jennifer Kraber vs. Jennifer Pavlovick and Tara McCracken Williams vs. Angie Payne. Pavlovick and Payne came in 7th/8th. Amanda Lampert and Michelle Cortez won their Sunday winner’s side matches to compete for the hot seat. Michelle, a long time player and always a threat, has had a fantastic year, finishing third in Austin, which was her highest finish to date. She overcame that finish with this tournament’s hill-hill match with Amanda, securing herself the hotseat and a guaranteed second place. It was eventually Tara who attempted to double-dip her, but without success. In another hill-hill battle, Michelle Cortez didn’t let Tara to the table in the final game, breaking and running her way to first place and $750! Congratulations to her for a fantastic tournament and to all the ladies for some awesome shooting.
Thanks again to Rusty’s for our first and last tournament this year, and to all our board members who do a fantastic job all year around. A special year-end thank you to the man behind the tour, always supporting the ladies and feeding us Godiva chocolate, a great friend and wonderful person, Carter, we love you.
The final stop of the OB Cues Ladies Tour for 2011 was more exciting than ever based on three important factors. For the 1st time in the tour’s history, the last event of the year was $3,000 added monies, $1K more than the normal added dollars. Secondly, the OB Cues Tour Champion spot was up for grabs as several contenders were vying to unseat 3-time Tour Champion Lisa Marr. And finally a new award of Best Sportsman would be voted by the players out of four nominated players.
As this last stop was $3000 added monies, a special player’s eligibility requirement was needed to play in this event at one of our favorite host site, Casper’s in San Leon, Texas. Players had to play in at least 3 events throughout this tour year and 28 ladies ventured down south Texas way to participate in all the year end festivities. First and foremost, we would like to thank Don Owen and Royce Bunnell, as our main tour sponsors. Year after year they have provided customer service, pool products and unwavering support and friendship for both tour players and host site partners. Thank you for all that you do and believing in us and keeping our dreams alive. Be sure to check out our sponsor at www.obcues.com and www.pool300.com
Also special thanks to Kathy and Roy Robinson, who are frequent hosts on the ladies tour. They have one of the most fabulous and unique pool and restaurant establishments on our tour calendar and we greatly appreciate your down home hospitality displayed by your staff, customers and fans everywhere. Casper’s is a must see pool establishment. If you are ever down south Texas, be sure to look them up.
Four players were chosen by the board for the 2011 Sportsmanship Award. Becky Jones from Arkansas, Kathy Knuth from Dallas, Shirley Fields from Arkansas, and Tracie Voelkering from Fort Worth were nominated by players over the course of 2011 and picked by the board members for their exemplary behavior both on and off the table. It was a close race between the nominees as players submitted their votes and it came down to a tie between Shirley and Tracie. The players were asked to re-vote for only these 2 players and it was one vote away from a tie again, with Tracie edging out Shirley for the award. Congratulations Tracie! Your display of sportsmanship both on and off the table makes you very deserving of this award.
The 2011 Most Improved player was voted on by the board based on player performance and ranking for 2011 against prior years. One player really stood out from the pack in the increase in rankings for the past two years, but based on her position on the board, she asked to be removed from contention. After review of her movement from 20th in 2009, to 9th in 2010, and to 6th for the season in 2011, it was no contest to the remaining board members who should take this award. With her left out of the vote, the board selected Julie Stephenson as the most improved player. She credits her participation in Pool 300 league to her overall improvement at the sport.
For the 2011 Tour Champion, it was a tight race with four potential players that had the ability to seize the title. Orietta Strickland was the tour point’s leader going into this last stop with Lisa Marr 110 points behind. Based on the outcome of the tournament, Tara Williams and Ming Ng could also be contenders or spoilers for the tour champion spot. But with all the pressure on Orietta to maintain her position as point’s leader, she would also need help from others to keep Lisa at bay. Unfortunately by the end of tournament play on Saturday, 8 players would return for the Main Event and Orietta was not one of them. Winner side matches would include Lisa Marr vs. Ming Ng and Tara Williams vs. Ricki Lee Casper. One loss side matches would include Belinda Lee vs. Jennifer Kraber and Amanda Lampert vs. Yvette Reyes.
Finishing 7th/8th was Yvette Reyes and Belinda Lee; 5th/6th was Jennifer Kraber and Ming Ng. 4th place would go to Ricki Lee Casper, her highest tour finish ever; always a contender and strong player who we are sure she will continue with her winning ways. 3rd place was Amanda Lampert who sought her revenge win against Ricki who put her on the one loss side.
In the finals match, it was a replay of the hot seat with Lisa Marr and Tara Williams. Both ladies were not only vying for the win, but the tournament winner would also be crowned the tour champion in the close point race. Tara would have to beat Lisa twice for the win, but it would not happen, Lisa bested Tara in one set with a score of 7-5. Tara Williams finished in 2nd place her last 3 tour events, including this stop, for the 2011 year, showing very consistent shooting and strong year end finish to boot. With this 1st place finish, Lisa went on to become tour champion for the 4th time in a row. Lisa went through some challenges this year while enduring shoulder surgery which caused her to not finish as high as she would have wanted. But always the fighter and her ‘never quit’ attitude, she was able to overcome all obstacles and prevail once again as the tour champion. Congratulations to all tour players for an excellent tour year.
