The first Hunter
Classics Stop of 2005 was held at Fast Eddies in Austin, TX February
12-13. With 23 tables, the 53 women who came to play
were in very good hands as the two-day event dwindled down to just
one winner by Sunday evening. This winner, Leslie Anne Rogers,
from Arlington, TX, also won the WPBA
Qualifier.
Heather Pulford and Leslie Anne
Rogers, both excellent players from Texas, advanced to the hot seat match
on Sunday. The two ladies battled back and forth to reach hill-hill, but
Rogers pulled out the 7-6 win. On the one-loss side, Kim Tipton and Nicole
Menitz were dueling it out to see who would advance to the semifinals.
Despite the outcome, both players would earn their highest personal
finishes. Tipton earned the victory but would get defeated by Heather
in the next match as Heather earned her way back to the finals against
Rogers. In the final match, Pulford jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but Rogers
came back to tie it up at 3-all. The two traded a few games, and Pulford
regained the lead at 5-4, but Rogers strung together three straight games for
the 7-5 victory.
Although Leslie Anne won the
tournament, the talk of the town was all of the Austin ladies in the top
12! Heather Pulford (2nd), Nicole Menitz (4th), Michelle Cortez (5),
Jennifer Kraber (5th), Shayla Neris (9th) and Deanna Henson (9th). And,
although Kim Tipton (3rd) currently lives in San Francisco, she used to live in
Austin just a few years back. Good showing, ladies!
Michelle Cortez, Heather Pulford, Kim Tipton, Jennifer Kraber, Leslie
Anne Rogers, and Nicole Menitz
Photo copyright Cathy
Vanover.
Leslie Anne Rogers won the WPBA
Qualifier and $750, Heather earned $600, Kim (from San Francisco) earned $455 and
Nicole earned $300. 5th/6th paid $160 to Michelle and Jennifer while
Orietta Strickland and Susan Wilbur earned $120. Congratulations to all
the ladies!
The beautiful (and very
expensive) Hunter Classics Custom Cue was
raffled off right before the finals and although the winner was
not present, she is a regular tour member who we called while she was
driving home. Heather Pitre from Santa Fe, TX could not believe she was the
winner! Wes Hunter, our tour sponsor, donated this beautiful cue and this
is the twelfth year he has supported the Hunter Classics Tour. Thank
you, Wes!
On Sunday, the Hunter Classics
Tour also held it's famous second chance tournament and in the end it
was Jillian Valles from Houston out of 23 ladies who won the
second chance event (and $130). Board Member Melinda Bailey came in 2nd
($85) and Sue Y. Chong came in 3rd ($50). Krystia Sparks came in 4th
and earned not only $25, but also her highest finish yet!
Congratulations to all!
Fast Eddies treated all
the ladies well and we sincerely appreciate their hospitality and
look forward to more stops at Fast Eddies. Danny, Christina, and Amie were very
helpful managers and we thank them for accommodating all of the women
during this great tournament!
And, again we would like to thank Wes Hunter for continuing
to support the largest, longest running, women's regional tour in the
country!
The Hunter Tour will be
at Corner Pocket in Albuquerque, NM on March 19th - 20th! See you there for this $2,000 added, WPBA Qualifier!
1st
Leslie Anne
Rogers
$750 +
Qualifier
2nd
Heather
Pulford
$600
3rd
Tim Tipton
$455
4th
Nicole
Menitz
$300
5-6th
Michelle Cortez and Jennifer
Kraber
$160
7-8th
Orietta Strickland and Susan
Wilbur
$120
9-12th
Deanna
Henson, Becky
Rouse, Shayla Neris, and Julie Stephenson
$80
13-16th
Melinda Bailey,
Sybil Wyatt, Sherri L. Smith, and Amber
Stone
$50
17-24th
Jillian Valles, JJ
Jones, Rebecca Goodnight, Audra Carter, Susan Linker, Shirley smith,
Rachel Hurst and Lucy
Robinson
$25
2nd Chance Tournament
Results:
$115 added, 24 women
