Rusty's Billiards in Arlington, Texas hosted the 6th event of the year for the OB Cues Ladies 9-Ball Tour September 27-28. Fifty-one ladies came to compete and many new faces were in attendance! Welcome to all the new players!
On hand were the owners of OB Cues - Royce Bunnell and Don (and Anita) Owens - and we were able to thank them in person for sponsoring the tour! They provide two OB Cues (each with an OB1 Shaft) to raffle off for money raised in this $2,000 guaranteed-added tournament!
Jeff Pitts and Tracie Voelkering welcomed the ladies but it was the ladies who welcomed the opportunity to play in their pool room! The non-smoking section was a welcome change for most of the players and the love of pool was always in the atmosphere in their 24-hour pool room.
By Sunday morning, only 12 players survived. Lisa Marr defeated Amanda Lampert 7-3, Tara McCracken defeated Lisa Henderson-Major 7-3, Michelle Abernathy defeated Kim Pierce 7-3 and Michelle Ram defeated board member Julie Stephenson 7-3. 9th-12th finishers received $85 each. On the winner's side, Cristina De La Garza took care of board member Melinda Bailey 7-2 while Heather Lloyd took care of Bonnie Plowman 7-4.
Cristina De La Garza won a hard-fought fight against seasoned Heather Lloyd 7-5 for the hot seat match. On the one loss side, 7th and 8th place finishes were filled by Michelle Abernathy and Michelle Ram who both earned $105. Melinda and Tara filled out the 5th and 6th spots for $160. Lisa Marr won over Bonnie Plowman 7-4 and Bonnie won $275 for 4th place. Lisa was stopped by a determined Heather Lloyd who won 7-3. Lisa earned $410 for 3rd place.
This meant Heather would have a rematch with Cristina for the title in this double elimination tournament. The first set went hill-hill (with the fans loving every minute of it!) and Heather won and forced the second set. After a quick break, Heather won the next set 7-2 and earned $750 for 1st place! Heather had an invite to the WPBA Championship in November and therefore Cristina won the Qualifier for that WPBA event. Cristina also won $570 for second place. This was the highest finish for Cristina and her first Qualifier win!!
Congratulations to all the ladies!
A BIG thank you to Rusty's Billiards, OB Cues (obcues.com), AZBilliards.com (Internet sponsor), Billiards Digest, Pool and Billiard Magazine, and InsidePool, authors Carl Miller and Bob Watson, Pro Player Ellen Van Buren, and supporters Samm Diep of sammspocket.com, Carter Nakashima and Randy Autrey.
We couldn't have had this wonderful event without all the ladies and fans. Thank you!
See everyone November 22-23 in League City, Texas at Legend's Billiards for our Championship Stop!
