By: Markus Noé
Karen Corr once again showed she is till one of the top women players in the world going undefeated through a 56 player field at the Super Billiard Expo. This event had over $8000 added and was sanctioned by the North American Pool Tour (NAPT), which is one of the most successful Pro tours for either Men or Women going at the moment in North America.
Each event is a $5000 first prize and attracts some of the best female talent around such as, Corr, Allison Fischer, Brittany Bryant, April Larson, Janet Atwell, Naomi Williams, Jennifer Barretta and more. There was really two tournaments inside of one in this event, as once we got down to the final 16 it turned into single elimination with no redraw. Meaning if you stayed on the winners side throughout the beginning stages you would have the tougher path to the finals.
Corr won the winners bracket with wins against Atwell 11-8, Vivian Villareal 11-9, and Allison Fischer 11-8. Bryant long time Pro with several big titles under her belt, lost her first round match then showed her heart and experience as she went undefeated on her way to making her second appearance in the SBE final. Her victories where against Store 11-7, April Larson 11-9 and then against Jai Li 11-9 before meeting up with Corr. It should be mentioned that Li split her time between working as a vendor and the Pro Arena. In her first match she got stuck at her booth and with the strict 2 minute forfeit rule she was forced to forfeit her first match. She pulled herself together and had an impressive 4th place finish.
In the finals Corr showed that she is still a step above winning 11-6 to capture her 3rd SBE title. There was a strong showing by Canadian talent in this one, Denise Belanger had an excellent tournament as she was the only Canadian who made the final 8 on the winners side. She played a solid match against one of the next big things outs of the U.S Brianna Miller winning 11-3, before being knocked off by Fischer 11-4.
Veronique Menard the number one player out of Québec for sometime now also had a good tournament. She finished in 13th place making the single elimination stage and losing a close match to Barretta 11-9 a match she was leading in most of the time and played very well. Multiple Canadian Champion Naomi Williams finished just before the single elimination rounds and for a fairly inactive player showed her talent level once again with a decent tournament. She is just about to finish her schooling, so look to see her more in the near future and would not surprise me to see her near the top of the next NAPT tournament she plays.
Williams knocked out fellow Canadian and rising talent from Québec Valerie Bedard 9-6 who won two matches after her first round defeat to Miller. This was Bedard first time playing on this type of stage and she did not crumble under the pressure, look to hear more from her as she continues to develop. Nathalie Chabot was also in attendance but lost a couple close matches.
During this week I spent more time then ever watching the Women play and I have to say it was enjoyable. The women seem to treat each other with more respect and do not get as testy as some of the men do. When the match ends win or lose they literally embrace one another, there is something kind of nice about the whole thing.
Congratulation to the winners and look forward to seeing you all next time.
Thank you to my sponsors for this event:
Rack-M-Up Billiards
Super Billiard Expo
Touhey Management
Tailgators
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