The OB Cues Ladies Tour welcomed WPBA Pros Tiffany Nelson, Melissa Little, Janet Atwell and veteran Ramona Biddle to this first-time event. We were fortunate to have them be in the Oklahoma neighborhood in preparation for the following weekend WPBA U.S. Open event at Riverwind Casino in Norman, OK. All in all, there were thirty-five players in attendance and without a doubt; this event touted a very, very strong playing field.
There were several tightly contested & key matchups and right at the get-go, it was regular OB Cues tour player and two-time regional tour champion Heather Lloyd drawing WPBA Pro Janet Atwell. This match was exciting to watch and with both players putting their best foot forward, it was Heather who came out the victor in this nail-biting hill-hill match 7-6. Heather continued winning all her matches on Saturday to return on Sunday to play another WPBA Pro Tiffany Nelson. Tiffany, a crowd favorite, was making her way through the winning bracket and survived a close call against Colorado's Bonnie Plowman in yet another exciting hill-hill match. Bonnie, fresh from her OB Cues Tour win in June, was taking no prisoners as she was scoring dominating wins over many of her opponents.
By the end of Saturday, it would be four players who were undefeated. This included regular OB Cues Tour player Amanda "The Natural" Lampert versus Buffy Jolie from Tennessee and Tiffany Nelson versus Heather Lloyd. On the one-loss side, still fighting their way in the Main Event, it was Terry Petrosino vs. Leslie Anne Rogers (visiting from Japan); Bonnie Plowman vs. WPBA Pro Melissa Little (Melissa knocked out Janet Atwell in a hard fought hill-hill match to make it to the Sunday rounds); Lisa Marr vs. Tammie Jones, from Muncie, IN & (multiple times BCA National Masters Champion) and veteran Mona Biddle vs. Tina Hess, who lost a heartbreaking hill-hill match to Amanda Lampert Saturday late afternoon.
While Sunday matches continued throughout the day, it would be Amanda Lampert vs. Tiffany Nelson for the hot seat. Although Amanda would have liked to have fared better against Tiffany 7-1, she was not down and out. Amanda needed to defeat Melissa Little to regain another matchup with Tiffany and that is exactly what she did. Amanda handed Melissa her 1st lost on Saturday with a score of 7-3 and she defeated Melissa yet a second time on Sunday 7-5 to earn her a spot in the finals against Tiffany. The finals match was anyone's guess as both players were winning their respective games. But in the end it was Tiffany scoring a 7-5 win for the 1st place prize money of $750 and Amanda scoring $560 for 2nd. Melissa Little got $400 for 3rd place and Heather Lloyd got $275 for 4th plus the Qualifier for the 2009 U.S. Open. There were 12 players who were vying for the 2009 U.S. Open qualifier and it came down to the match between Heather Lloyd vs. Tammie Jones with the winner taking home the qualifier spot. Heather won that match with a score of 7-5 to capture the 2009 U.S. Open Qualifier.
Main Event Payouts, $2,000 added, 35 players:
1st place – Tiffany Nelson - $750On Sunday, a Second Chance tournament was held on Diamond Smart Tables and 12 ladies were game for more pool action with $100 added by the OB Cues Tour
1st place – Rhonda Pierce from Oklahoma - $95Special Thanks to Don Owen and Royce Bunnell, the sponsors of the OB Cues Ladies 9-Ball Tour, who came out to support the tour, provided two OB cues for raffles and enjoyed the fun and sweating the action. We love you guys!!!!
Our next stop will be at Fast Eddies, College Station, Texas -- August 16th-17th. We hope to see you there
