With the $6200 added to the prize money at the Ladies Spirit Tour finale, the field was certain to be strong and it definitely was. Top seeds at the event included Sarah Ellerby, Angel Paglia, Miyuki Sakai and Rachael Abbink; but in the end it was tour regular Tracie Hines who took her game up a notch to distance herself from the rest of the field.
Sakai seemed to be the player to beat early with four wins including victories over Abbink and Paglia. The closest any player got to Sakai was Abbink who won 3 games. If Hines was intimidated by Sakai's performance, she didn't show it as she sent Sakai to the one-loss side with a 7-5 victory.
From there, Hines scored a 7-3 win over Tara McCracken from Dallas, Texas. McCracken had been impressing players with her play all weekend but she couldn't find an answer to how to beat Hines.
On the one-loss side, it was Debbie Schjodt tearing through the field. Schjodt was tied 6-6 with Sakai and broke and ran the final rack for the win. After that, Schjodt beat McCracken 7-2 to earn her spot in the finals. Schjodt led the match 6-0 and never looked to be in danger of losing.
In the finals, Hines took an early 2-0 lead, but Schjodt clawed back to tie the match at 3-3. Schjodt took her first lead at 4-3, but Hines won the next two games for a 5-4 lead. Schjodt tied the match again at 5-5, but Hines won the last two games for the 7-5 win.
Hines earned $1675 for first place, while Schjodt settled for $1225. McCracken and Sakai filled out the top four spots. Online brackets were posted during the event.
Complete Results: (not including the $50 that was paid back to the 31 players who had competed in previous Spirit Tour events this season)
1st Tracie Hines $1675
2nd Debbie Schjodt $1225
3rd Tara McCracken $925
4th Myuki Sakai $725
5th/6th Angel Paglia, Sarah Ellerby $500
7th/8th Bonnie Plowman, Rachael Abbink $300
9th/12th Helene Caukin, Ming Ng, Bonnie Coats, Ellen Van Buren $200
13th/16th Tina Larson, Emily Wilmoth, Tina Pawloski, Lisa Hamilton $100
17th/24th Gina Kim, Naomi Williams, Melinda Bailey, Dawn Hart, Heather Barkley, Amy Poulter, Julie Schultz, Vanessa Seaver $50