 Kim Pierce, Julia Gabriel, Heather Lloyd, Michelle McDermott, Amanda Lampert and Leslie Anne Rogers |
Magoo's Billiards in Tulsa, Oklahoma welcomed back the Hunter Classics Tour for the second time this year. Thirty-six women competed in the event and enjoyed the atmosphere of the Magoo's family-like waitresses and bartenders. This event was also a WPBA Qualifier for the October WPBA event in Norman, Oklahoma. Throughout the event, it was anyone's tournament but big guns were pitted early against each other on the beautiful 9-foot tables and they fell one by one leaving only 12 ladies left on Sunday.
On Sunday on the winner's side, Leslie Anne Rogers would defeat Julia Gabriel hill-hill while Heather Lloyd sent local Michelle McDermott to the other side with a score of 7-2. When Leslie and Heather would meet for the hot seat, Leslie would prevail 7-3 to wait on the sidelines to see who she would play in the finals.
On the one-loss side, Kim Pierce would defeat Lisa Henderson-Major 7-6 and then local Kathy Batson (her first Hunter event) 7-5 before running into a red-hot Julia Gabriel who defeated Kim 7-1. Amanda Lampert would defeat Shayla Neris 7-4 then Julie Stephenson 7-4 and Michelle McDermott 7-5 before losing to Julia Gabriel 7-4. Board members Helen Hayes and Monica Anderson placed 9th-12th along with Lisa Henderson-Major and Shayla Neris. 7th and 8th places were filled by board member Julie Stephenson and straight shooter Kathy Batson.
5th and 6th places were filled by Kim Pierce and Michelle McDermott. This proved to be an interesting turn of events to see who would win the WPBA Qualifier in Oct in Norman that was up for grabs. With only 4 players left, each were not eligible for the pro event: Heather Lloyd has a spot in each WPBA event as the Hunter Tour Champion of 2006; Leslie Anne won a WPBA qualifier for the Oct event back in June with her win at the Hunter Classics Tour event in College Station; and Amanda Lampert also had a spot being the Regional Tour Champion. That left Julia Gabriel who had a previous engagement that weekend and wouldn't be able to attend the WPBA event. Kim and Michelle both paid the extra $20 to be eligible for the qualifier and a play-off would be necessary to see who would win the WPBA Qualifier. Michelle McDermott cried with excitement afterwards as she won 7-1 and this 23 year-old Oklahoma-native will be playing in her first pro event in October!
Back in the main event, steady-hand Heather Lloyd defeated Julia Gabriel 7-3 in the semi finals for a rematch with Leslie Anne for the title. Julia placed 3rd and earned $400 for her fine play. Heather sailed through the first set against Leslie Anne 7-3 in this double elimination tournament which meant another match would need to be played to see who would win the title. It was a long day, though, and the next set was not so easily won. Heather was up 2-0 then Leslie Anne caught a gear and was up 5-2, then 5-3, then 6-5. Heather managed another game to tie the second double elimination set to a hill-hill match! Heather won the last game and earned $750 for first place and Leslie Anne earned $550 for second place.
Heather not only won the tournament, she also won the beautiful $1,600 Hunter Classics Custom Cue!
Other prizes were won by:
Susan Petty - free Strok-N-Style glove gift certificate
Lisa Henderson-Major - free Pool and Billiard subscription
Julia Gabriel - Samm's SidePocket Goodie Bag
Debbie Watson - Starbucks gift card
Diana Cardona - free entry fee
Samm Diep won the Second Chance tournament by double dipping Jillian Valles with a hill-hill win. Kyu Yi came in 3rd and Jennifer Combs came in 4th.
A BIG thank you to Wes Hunter of Hunter Classics Custom Cues for his generous support of the tour for over 13 years!
Our next stop is at Paradise Billiards in Corpus Christi, Texas August 18-19. Come on out for Good Pool, Good Friends, Good Times!
