Janet Atwell
Tiger Smart held their inaugural event on May 25, 2013 at Grady’s Billiards in Lexington South Carolina. The tournament drew fifteen players from four states including Dana Aft, Faith Thompson, Aileen Nguyen, and Christa Lemmons from Georgia, Cheryl Pritchard and Janet Atwell from Virginia, Marianne Merrill and Lisa Cossette from North Carolina, and rounding out the field were JoAnn Barnes, Katherine Spence, Heather Lakatos, Priscilla Harsey, Jackie Corley and Belinda Calhoun from South Carolina. “I was very pleased with the participation for our first event” said
Belinda Calhoun, Tiger SMART Tour Director. The owner of Grady’s Billiards, Crystal Lloyd, was presented with a certificate of appreciation during the players meeting.
Competition was fiercely fought as seven matches went hill-hill or 7-5 in the race to seven, rack your own, alternate break format. Surprise of the tournament was Crystal Lloyd, host of the event, who rifled through the winner’s bracket including impressive wins over Janet Atwell and Belinda Calhoun. The hot seat match with Dana Aft who also cruised through the winners bracket with victories over Pritchard, Thompson and Corley, was the match of the tournament! At hill-hill, Crystal plays a safety on the six-ball where the cue ball stays up, deep in the corner pocket. Dana is completely hooked by the nine. The six, seven, and nine are left. Crystal had to be thinking she had Dana at this point. Dana kicks behind the six and makes it in the side with good shape on the seven! Remember these two players are battling not only for the hot seat but most likely the winner will win the entry and spot into the Ultimate 10-ball. Dana just misses the seven leaving Crystal with a little tester. Winner game, set, and hot seat, Lloyd.
Meanwhile, Janet Atwell, WPBA veteran, is climbing thru the one loss side. She takes out Cheryl Pritchard 7-3, Belinda Calhoun 7-5, and Dana Aft 7-1 to reach the 1one set, race to nine, final. Janet was in a good rhythm and with steely, composed shooting took the match and the title! As second place finisher, Crystal Lloyd wins the qualifying spot and entry for the Ultimate 10ball Championship in Tunica MS next month. Other notable finishers include Faith Thompson and Jackie Corley in 5th-6th.
Tiger SMART would like to thank its partners and sponsors: Tiger Products, Inc., Aramith, Simonis, T&S Printing Company, and Billiards Digest for helping to make Tiger SMART’S first event a success. Congratulations to Katherine Spence, Irmo, SC, who won a one year subscription to Billiards Digest. SMART would also like to acknowledge Corey Epps of Channel 19, WLTX for coverage of the event.
Thanks to all the players who participated. Cheryl Pritchard, Associate Tour Director, said, “the South Carolina girls really showed their support for SMART and the WPBA playing extremely well despite being first timers to this format, and they represented South Carolina very well.”
