31 players came out to support the King's Bay Promotions stop at Capone's Billiards in Spring Hill, Florida on July 7th. KBP has been a foundation for up and coming amateurs to grow and compete in Florida for several years now. This $500 added event saw amazing play all day long.
The field was predominantly male, with exception of two women. But it wasnt long before newcomer Yu Ram Cha of Korea quickly made herself known as one of the top players. Cha started the day strong, winning her first two matches precisely and with ease. However, tour regular Bobby Livrago had plans of his own, defeating Cha 7-4 and sending her to the one-loss side. Livrago continued his winning streak and secured his spot in the finals.
On the one-loss side, Cha fought back hard, winning 6 consecutive matches and taking out some of the tour's top players to reach Livrago in the finals. Despite the double elimination format, the finals are just one race to nine, so the 20 year old Cha still had a good chance at earning redemption. With a significant age difference between Cha and Livrago, and of course gender difference, the final match could be described as "young lioness versus old lion".
The finals drew the attention of the entire poolroom at Capone's, to watch this historic event for the KBP Tour. "This is more people than I've ever saw before watching a finals at a KBP event. She's (Cha) really gotten the people's attention." said one player.
Cha started out strong by winning the lag and a break and run in the first rack. With Livrago struggling to pocket a ball on the break, Cha quickly jumped out to a commanding 4-0 lead, but the 'always-tough' Livrago battled back to tie the score at 4-4. From there it went rack for rack between the two players, neither able to keep more than a one rack lead for long. Livrago reached the hill first, but a crucial miss on the 5-ball, let Cha back at the table, faced with a difficult out. Calmly, she finished the rack, tying the score at 8-8, and had the break.
The confident Cha stepped to the table, broke the rack, pocketing two balls, with the cue ball parked at the center of the table and a clear shot at the 2-ball. From there, it was all Cha, as she pocketed the balls with precision and proceeded to run out. She left herself a slight cut on the 9-ball, but lined it up and fired it in with confidence, winning the match 9-8.
Congratulations to Cha for her first place finish and to Livrago for second.
