Courtney Peters
In her first cash finish in 2021, back in January, Courtney Peters had the misfortune of running into Russia’s Kristina Tkach, who was working on a seven-match, loss-side winning streak when she showed up in the semifinals of the Michael Montgomery Memorial Tournament at Snookered in Frisco, TX. As it happened, the same misfortune befell hot seat occupant-at-the-time Tara Williams, who lost both sets of the true double elimination final that followed the Tkach/Peters semifinal. Though neither Tkach nor Williams were on hand for the $2,000-added season opener of the Jerry Olivier Ladies Tour, held this past weekend (May 22-23) at Big Tyme Billiards in Spring, TX, Peters did have 36 of some of the state’s best female competitors to contend with, including alumni from the Montgomery Memorial – Tam Trinh, Ming Ng and Robyn Petrosino. Peters went undefeated through the field to claim her first (recorded) event title since she came from the loss side to double dip hot seat occupant Robyn Petrosino on the Gulf Coast Women’s tour back in July, 2018.
The 37-entrant field required a 64-player bracket and Peters was one of only 10 women who played in the opening round of the event; all the other ladies were awarded byes. Peters started by facing and defeating two Teresas in a row and giving up only a single rack through the two matches. She shut out Teresa Ballenger and gave up the single rack to Teresa Garland. Nicole Daniel put up a bit of a fight against her next, but Peters prevailed 7-5 and went back to giving up a single rack in her match versus Michelle Yim. This put her into a winners’ side semifinal against Kim Pierce. The aforementioned (twice) Robyn Petrosino, in the meantime, did get a bye and then defeated Ruth Paine, the also-aforementioned Tam Trinh 7-2 and Stephanie Reyes 7-1 to draw the also-aforementioned Ming Ng in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Peters got into the hot seat match with a 7-5 win over Pierce. And shades of that Gulf Coast Women’s Tour, Petrosino joined her, after surviving a double hill fight against Ng. Three years ago, it was Petrosino who grabbed the hot seat. This year, Peters took it 7-4 and waited on what turned out to be the return of Ming Ng.
On the loss side, Kim Pierce picked up Cristina Schneider, who’d lost a winners’ side quarterfinal, double hill battle to Ming Ng and then, defeated Terry Petrosino 7-3 and won another double hill fight against Janeen Lee. Ming Ng drew Tam Trinh, who followed her defeat at the hands of Robyn Petrosino with a four-match, loss-side winning streak that had most recently included wins over Michelle Yim and Jennifer Kraber, both 7-4.
Ng and Trinh locked up in a double hill struggle that eventually sent Ng to the quarterfinals. Schneider earned the rematch against Ng by defeating Pierce 7-5. Ng defeated Schneider a second time (7-3) to earn her own rematch against Petrosino in the semifinals.
Four of the last six standing in this Jerry Olivier Ladies Tour season opener in 2021 were four of the last six in that Gulf Coast Women’s Regional Tour event won by Peters three years ago; Peters, Ming Ng, Robyn Petrosino and Kim Pierce.
Ng was picking up speed on the loss side. She fought to double hill in her first loss-side match, gave up three racks in her second and in the semifinal rematch against Petrosino, only one. It was not, though, enough, to derail Peters’ undefeated run, which she completed, downing Ng 7-5 in the finals to claim the event title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Big Tyme Billiards for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Jerry Olivier Cues. The next stop on the Jerry Olivier Ladies Tour, scheduled for June 19-20, will be a $2,000-added event, hosted by Skinny Bob’s in Round Rock, TX.
