Chicagoland to Host WPBA
The Women’s Professional Billiard Association has added another tournament to the 2001 line up, according to Trifecta Entertainment. The event brings the year’s total Classic Tour stops to five.
The women will gather October 10-14 in the Chicago suburb of Villa Park for the WPBA Midwest Classic. The event marks a return to Palace Billiards (co-owned by BCA amateur stand out John Abruzzo), where last year Allison Fisher beat Helena Thornfeldt for the title.
In addition to the five Classic Tour stops, the women also competed in the Billiard Congress of America Pro 9-Ball Open in May, and a National Championship is pending for early December.
WPBA Midwest Classic
Oct. 10 – 14, 2001
Palace Billiards
Villa Park, IL
For ticket info call 630-941-3500
Corr eclipses Fisher to take No. 1 ranking
Ireland’s Karen Corr captured her 2001 Classic Tour-best third title of the season by defeating Allison Fisher, 7-3, in the final of the Women’s Professional Billiard Association’s Cuetec Cues Carolina Classic at the Charlotte Marriott City Center, June 14-17. The victory vaulted Corr into the No. 1 spot in the rankings, unseating Fisher, who held the WPBA’s top position since Sept. 1996.
Corr’s victory was her sixth WPBA crown since joining the tour in 1999. Five of those wins have come in Corr’s last nine Classic Tour stops, including back-to-back titles at the 2001 Cuetec Cues Players Championship in March and the Spring Classic in April. With the $7,500 first-place prize, Corr’s earnings total reached a Classic Tour-leading $30,000 for the 2001 season.
Deja Vu, All Over Again
Karen Corr became the first Women’s Professional Billiard Association player other than No. 1-ranked Allison Fisher to win back-to-back Classic Tour titles since 1997 by capturing the Spring Classic, in Alpine, Calif., April 26-29. The victory, which paid Corr $6,500, once again came against Jennifer Chen, Corr’s final opponent one month earlier at the Cuetec Cues Players Championship in Valley Forge, Pa., March 23-25.
On her path to a second consecutive TV final, No. 2-ranked Corr knocked off Kim White, 9-1, Tiffany Nelson, 9-4, Line Kjorsvik, 9-8, and Vivian Villarreal, 9-2, before her rematch with Chen. Only Gerda Hofstatter as previously been able to string together back-to-back Classic Tour stops in the last four seasons. A native of Taiwan, Chen earned $4,500 for second place.
Corr defends Valley Forge
Karen Corr kicked off the 2001 Women’s Professional Billiard Association’s Classic Tour by capturing its first stop at the Cuetec Players Championship, in Valley Forge, Pa., March 23-25. Corr went undefeated to collect $6,500 during the three-day tournament, which will be aired on ESPN beginning in May.
Corr, the WPBA’s second-ranked player, rallied from a 4-1 deficit against Jennifer Chen in the final match with six consecutive games to claim her second consecutive Players Championship title. “This event is important for me because I live just down the road [in Feasterville, Pa.],” said Corr. “There’s a lot of local support for me here, and I have a lot of friends who wanted to see me do well.”
Lee gives 3-cushion a stab
Women’s Professional Billiard Association attraction Jeanette Lee has announced she will participate in the United States Billiard Association’s next Carom Corner 3-cushion billiards event at World Class Billiards in Peabody, Mass., March 12-18. She will compete in a handicapped event during the tournament, which will feature recently crowned U.S. champion Sang Chun Lee and current world No. 1 Dick Jaspers.
For more information contact the host site at (978) 535-7000.
Lee squares off with ESPN anchor
Pool fans normally accustomed to watching Jeanette Lee on ESPN wielding her cue against the game’s best will discover today that her ESPN appearances aren’t limited to the Women’s Professional Billiard Association Classic Tour.
The Black Widow is featured in the sports network’s newest “This is SportsCenter” spot, which showcases a fearsome showdown against anchor Bill Pidto. To see the debut of the commercial, visit espn.go.com/thisissportscenter/index.html.
Irish eyes are smiling
Although the 2000 World Pool-Billiard Association World 9-Ball Championships in Quebec City, Quebec, Nov. 14-19, brought together the best women players in the world, the finals came down to the Women’s Professional Billiard Association’s two top Irish imports. After a difficult route to the final, Julie Kelly topped WPBA No. 2-ranked Karen Corr to capture first place and her first major tournament title since coming to the United States in 1999.
Kelly, currently ranked No. 18 on the WPBA’s Classic Tour, twice knocked off defending champion Shin-Mei Liu (9-8, 9-6), then Jeanette Lee (9-7), before defeating her countrymate, 9-8 in the final match. Corr reached the final match with a victory over Lee in the quarterfinals (9-5) and a convincing win over three-time World Champion and WPBA No. 1-ranked Allison Fisher (9-2).
Corr Narrows Fisher’s Lead at WPBA US Open
The alternating-break format is continuing to shake up the ranks of the Women’s Professional Billiards Association, but it has yet to break the Allison Fisher-Karen Corr stranglehold on the top two spots. Corr won the WPBA U.S. Open, Sept. 10-14, in Albuquerque, N.M., in a 7-6 hill victory over Korean pro Ga-Young Kim in the finals.
Corr took the hot-seat when two straight scratches on the break let Corr take a 9-8 win. Kim earned a rematch in a 7-5 victory over tour veteran Vivian Villareal.
Corr took home $12,500 for her win, and narrowed Fisher’s lead to 110 points. Kim made her first WPBA television appearance, and took home $9,000 for second place. Villareal accepted $7,000 and third place, while Jeanette Lee settled for $5,500 for fourth. Full brackets can be found at the WPBA’s website, www.wpba.com.
Duchess On Top Again!
Allison Fisher beat down her rivals with a smile.
The new alternating-racks format shook up the charts some, with Corr going to the loser’s bracket care of snooker import Kim Shaw and Lee losing to come-from-nowhere Texan Kim White, both in the second round. Both Shaw and White finished unexpectedly high in the field, with formerly 28th-ranked White taking fifth place, and formerly 19th-ranked Shaw taking fourth place and making her first appearance in the television rounds.
Fisher claimed $9,000 for her win, while Lee settled for $6,500. Taiwanese starlet Jennifer Chen took home $5,000 for third place and Shaw took home $4,000 for fourth. Helena Thornfeldt tied White for fifth place and $2,800.
Karen Corr: Back on Top?
Karen Corr is fighting back.
Corr had been steadily losing her grip on 2001’s can’t-lose status, letting Fisher take three of the WPBA’s professional events in 2002. It was starting to look like Fisher had completely regained her former dominance. Before the Nationals win, Corr hadn’t posted a victory since the BCA Open in May, and in that event, she triumphed over Vivian Villarreal, not Fisher, in the final.
Corr took home $11,000 for her win, and she holds onto her 155-point lead, which she will bring with her into next season. Fisher’s second place earned her $8,000; Monica Webb to third for $6,000 and Hall-of-Famer Loree Jon Jones took 4th place and $4,800.