Kaylee McIntosh, Debbie McIntosh, Robin Verner, Michell Monk, Emily Broxson. Kelly Coyle and Jessica Barnes
She made it pretty clear that she was back and rarin’ to go. The Tiger Florida Tour’s 2023 champion, Kaylee McIntosh, not only went undefeated to win the tour’s 2024 season opener this past weekend (Sat., Feb. 17), she gave up only three racks, total, to all five of her opponents, giving up two of those three racks to the same person (Shanelle Lorraine) in separate matches.
In the modified, double-elimination format in which the last four competitors on each side of the bracket advanced to a three-round, single-elimination phase, Kaylee and her Mom, Debbie McIntosh, were both among the event’s final 8. They could have faced each other in the finals were it not for the fact that Michell Monk (#5 among 2023’s top competitors and eventual runner-up in this event) defeated the elder McIntosh in the first single-elimination round. Daughter Kaylee and Monk would later play a single ‘sudden death’ game for the event title, arguably demonstrating that if you mess with the Mamma Bear, the younger she-bear just might end up making you pay later. Or vice-versa. The $1,000-added season opener drew 31 entrants to North Palm Beach Billiards in Florida.
Three matches put Kaylee McIntosh into the single-elimination phase. All three were shutouts, over Tracy Gagnon, Shanelle Lorraine and Tour Director Mimi McAndrews. Mom got sent to the loss side after an opening-round, double-hill loss to Kimberly Housman and would win four on the loss side, including two, double-hill wins at the start, to be among the final four from that side of the bracket.
Joining Kaylee McIntosh among the final four from the winners’ side of the bracket were Monk, Robin Verner and Emily Wilmoth Broxson, all of whom, together, had won, on average, 80% of the games they’d played (72-29). While that average was certainly boosted by Kaylee’s three shutouts, it took a pair of ‘hits,’ accounting for 33.3% of the group’s racks-against, when Verner and Monk were challenged, double hill. Monk’s challenge came from Yvonne Asher in the opening round. Verner’s came from Deanna Laney in the last winners’ side round before single elimination.
Of the four competitors who lost the last winners’ side round advancing players to single elimination, only Jessica Barnes returned from the loss side. She followed her 1-6 loss to Monk with a 5-2, loss-side win over Housman and picked up Broxson in one of the event quarterfinals. Debbie McIntosh, after surviving two straight, double-hill matches versus Danielle Marie Fee and Gianna Banks Fiore, went on to defeat Kelly Carnes 5-3 and eliminated McAndrews 5-1 to pick up Monk in another event quarterfinal.
Shanelle Lorraine followed her winners’ side, shutout loss to Kaylee with loss-side wins over Jana Lucas 5-3, survived a double-hill match against Raina Orozco and eliminated Deanna Laney 5-1. Lorraine joined the final eight and drew a quarterfinal rematch against Kaylee. Kelly Coyle, who’d been shut out by Jessica Barnes in the second, winners’ side round, survived a double-hill match against Emily Chang, defeated Kim Caso 5-2 and advanced to join the quarterfinal party with a 5-1 victory over Ivette Ferna. Coyle faced Robin Verner in the last of the four quarterfinal matches.
Kaylee McIntosh and Michell Monk were the only ones to come into and out of the four quarterfinals undefeated. Monk downing Debbie McIntosh 6-1, Kaylee defeating Shanelle Lorraine a second time, 5-2. Monk’s semifinal opponent was Coyle, who’d eliminated Robin Verner 6-3. Kaylee drew Jessica Barnes, who’d eliminated Emily Wilmoth Broxson 6-4.
In the semifinals, Kaylee downed Barnes 6-1 as Monk was defeating Coyle 6-4, and the only two undefeated competitors at the tail end of the Tiger Florida Tour’s season-opener turned to face each other in the finals. But it was getting late and the prospect of a long final match was apparently unappealing to both of them. They opted out and decided on the ‘sudden death’ option of a single game. Kaylee McIntosh won it to claim her first win of the tour’s 2024 season.
Tour director Mimi McAndrews noted that Michell Monk won the event’s ‘Qualifier spot’ for the WPBA’s Borderline Billiards Invitational to be held at Janet Atwell’s new Borderline Billiards/Brunswick Arena in Bristol, TN, scheduled for the weekend of May 1-4. McAndrews gave a “shout out to Josh Arnold for running such a smooth tournament,” along with title sponsor Tiger Products, Boynton Billiards, AZBilliards, Stitch It To Me, Brutal Game Gear, and Eastern Billiards.
Tour representatives are still working on the 2024 schedule. Check the tour’s Web site at https://tigerfloridatour.com/ for updated information.
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