SJM at WPBA San Diego

Got in last night and by the time I got to the pro-am, it was just ten minutes from completion.

Said hello to many of the players and a few old friends, but chatted at some length with just a few, including Gerda Hofstatter, Kelly Fisher, Julie Kelly, Morgan Steinman and Dawn Hopkins. Was very pleased to catch up briefly with Ming Ng, whom I've known since the mid-1990's but haven't caught up with in years. Also nice was seeing rankings and regonal tour guru Mike Hurst (Stacy's husband), with whom I've had a lot of contact over the years, and with whom I plan to chat about some current topics this week.

The onset of a new WPBA season always stirs many emotions for me, and the Viejas, where the players and fans have always had a grand old time, seems a nice place to kick off 2009. Heaven knows why I haven't attended this wonderful tour stop for eight years, but I'm back.

Saw a few AZBers already, too. Nostroke was on the same plane as me out of Newark, and I saw both Vagabond and Jay Helfert at the pro-am, and said a brief hello to "April Fool's day legend" Cris Delagarza.

Made sure I was in bed by 11:00 and, this morning, I feel refreshed and ready to go.

Today of course, it's mostly about the pool, and I will try, once a day, to share my impressions of the tournament and the play, including, where appropriate, some Cuetable references to interestng and/or key shots that I see.

OK, it was quite a day in the tournament room.

It began socially enough. Jay Helfert and I spent most of the morning with our close friends Ewa Laurance, Monica Webb, and Jennifer Barretta, only having an occasional glance at the day's earliest matches.

By noon, however, I became a full-time match-sweater. The tables were playing very tough, surprisingly tight. A few of the matches I remember watching closely today:

Jeanette Lee vs Tracie Hines
Tracie was sharp early, and Jeanette appeared on the verge of trailing 4-2, but an error by Tracie turned the tide of the match, and once Jeanette seized the momentum, she was able to jump out to a 6-3 lead, and cruised from there.

Jennifer Barretta vs Ewa Laurance
Both were off their usual form, and Laurance had the upper hand much of the way. Barretta made a phenomenal 7-ball to pull to 7-7, and trailing 8-7, she faced a do or die shot in this position.

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When she banked it in and made the shape on the nine, the match went 8-8, but a safety play error in the next rack was the difference, with Ewa prevailing double hill.

Karen Corr vs Susan Williams
Wiliams was impressive early and had a chance to go up 5-3, but a mistake turned the tide of the match, and Corr was exceptional from that point on, prevailing 9-5.

Eleanor Callado vs Jasmin Ouschan
A choppy match from Jasmin for sure. A misss on waht appeared to be a fairly easy 4-9 combo at 2-2 and a missed nine ball at 3-2 resulted in a 4-2 lead for Callado, who was solid if unspectacular. Jasmin fought back, though and when Callado made an error leading 7-6, Jasmin ranout for 7-7 and, owning two of the last three breaks, appeared to be in good shape for the win, but the 7-7 rack produced what was surely the shot of the day. A miss by Jasmin left Callado in the following unenviable postion.

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All the defense available was difficult to execute, so Callado went for the home run and got it when she banked the six to pocket the nine in the corner, as follows:

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Callado rode this shot to a 9-7 victory.

Miscellaneous Observations
I only saw a little of Chen's win over Kelly Fisher. Allison Fisher, who was pretty much in dead stroke at Valley Forge, is still playing jam up, and won't be easy to beat this week if she mantains this level of play. I felt that the many of the seeded players I watched, though good enough to win, didn't find their best form. A noteworthy exception was Melissa Herndon, who was very impressive in the racks I watched. Kim Shaw also played well.

With Jasmin and Kelly Fisher already on the B-side, the early Friday matches may be more interesting than usual, and I best be going to bed if I'm going to catch them.

ragbug74 said:

SJM, any feeback on Sarah Rousey's matches? I see on the brackets where she won 9-3, 9-4. Have a good time the rest of the weekend and thanks for the great report! PS...I tried to give you some rep but it gave me the old "must spread it around" message......

Click to expand...

I didn't catch much of Sarah's play, but what I can relate is that her break was nothing short of amazing. In my estimation, the two best breaks this week so far belong to Sarah Rousey and Ga Young Kim.

Sarah looks very comfortable out there, which bodes well for her play this week. I'll try to pay a little more attrention to it today.

Friday's play

Well, I didn't stay until the end, but I saw a lot of pool on Friday. Much of the day is a blur, but here's some of what I remember form matches I followed closely:

Jasmin Ouschan vs My Han Lac
After winning in the 10 AM round, Jasmin still hadn't found her best game, but this was the match in whcih she found it, missing just two balls in the 9-0 win. This was vintage Jasmin, and she's back on track.

Abbink vs Schjodt
This one was a killer match, among the day's best. Schjodt caught a stroke and jumped to a 7-4 lead, and looked like she might cruise to the finish line. At 7-5, Abbink was faced with this, and came with the bank on the six when she needed it most.

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Notice the defense she played with the shot, too. A well-cpnceived, well-executed shot that kept her in the match.

Schjodt had some chances at 8-7, but failed to slam the door shut so the match went double hill. the final rack was a thriller, but Schjodt won control of the table with a good look at the runout, but she hooked herself on the four ball and faced this:

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Debbie played a wondeful soft masse, pocketing the four at a good speed to make the shape, but, sadly the cue ball scratch in the opposite side, sealing her fate. Abbink showed good sportsmanship when she commented that she didn't deserve the victory.

Eleanor Callado vs Myuki Sakai
Eleanor played well and built up a sizable lead. Myuki climbed back into it, and trailing 6-3, she faced this position, jacked up over the seven, playing the six ball.

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When she executed it, she pulled within 6-4, and seemed to have all the momentum, but Callado's break and run to make it 7-4 truned the tables once again, and Eleanor went onto to score a well-deserved victory.

Jennifer Barretta vs Susan Williams
Vintage Jennifer in this one. At 2-0, Jennifer made a paper thin cut on the one ball and played a difficult two rail path onto the two, which set up a runout that few would have been u to, but she managed, and from 3-0, she cruised, winnning 9-2.

Jennifer later played Tamara Rademakers, and faced this at double hill.

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After Jennifer pocketed the nine, Rademakers got up and congratulated her, but the handshake was premature, as the cue ball scratched two rails, and Rademaker was the winner. A most unusual finish, but in all my years of pool, I can't ever recall a match in which a player mistakenly offered a congratulatory handshake.

Vivian Villareal vs Yu Ram Cha
A nialbiter for sure, with Cha leading much of the way, but Vivian fought hard to reach double hill.

The best shot of the double hill rack, in which both had an opportunity, was this one, After a miss, Vivian was fortunate to leave just this.

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Cha could only see the right half of the five ball nad she opted to carom in the six off of it, a fantastic shot. A few moments later, she was a deseving winner.

That's all for now.

Saturday's play

I didn't take many notes today, so I won't be able to share many shots, but I will share my impressions of the day's play.

Nicole Keeney vs Cris Delagarza
I caught a good portion of AZBer Cris Delagarza's match against Nicole Keeney, and Cris came with some pretty special stuff down the stretch, which I'm happy to share. Down 6-5, she faced this after a Keeney miss:

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She hit this must-have shot it like a dream, and then made the 9-ball to tie the match at 6-6. Keeney ran the next rack, but Cris made a solid out to tie it at 7-7. At 7-7, Cris faced this position:

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Not sure whether the diagram makes this clear, but the four didn't have a pocket, and the defense available was nothing to get excited about, so Cris wisely opted to try to carom in the nine, and hit it like a charm.

At 8-7 ahead, Cris had to make a paper thin cut of the eight ball with the bridge, and came with it to seal the match.

Despite a loss to Tiffany Nelson in her next match, Cris had an impressive 17th place finish and has much to be proud of.

Miscellaneous Observations from Single Elimination
Karen Corr tried to play through her neck injusry and fought valiantly against Xiaoting Pan, who jumped out to an 8-3 lead with fantastci play. Karen closed to 8-6, but missed an easy nine ball that would have made it 8-7, and Pan advanced.

Holly Sholes really played well and should have beaten Kelly Fisher. Holly blew two easy runouts in the last two racks after leading 8-7, and Kelly Fisher was extremely lucky to advance.

It took a monumental effort from Hofstatter to beat Allison Fisher, who played fairly well in all her matches, but Gerda was the lady of the evening, beating Allison and then Xiaoting Pan convincingly to reach the TV round.

Jeanette Lee had a tough match with Kim Shaw, but leading 8-7, ran out after Kim's miss ont he two ball. Then, she played her best match of the event against Rousey, who had beaten Thornfeldt convincingly, to reach TV.

Ga Young Kim was in a very high gear in crushing Iris Ranola, but played sloppily in the early stages of her match against Kelly Fisher, before righting the ship to advance to TV. Yu Ram Cha led Jennifer Chen 8-6 shooting the winning nine ball, but the nine skidded badly, giving Chen new life. They reached double hill, and a poor two-rail kick by Chen proved the fatal error, with Cha advancing. Webb vs Cha was among the tournament's finest matches, with both players running out well. trailing 8-7, Cha had a bad miss on a two ball and Monica closed her out. Yu Ram Cha has become quite a player, and looks like a player to be reckoned with going forward.

..... so the TV round is set. Jeanette Lee vs Monica Webb in one semifinal, and Gerda Hofstatter vs Ga Young Kim in the other semifinal. Of the four left, I'd say Monica has played the best pool this week, but with four great players left, nobody would qualify as a surprise winner on Sunday. We'll see how it goes.