Jacoby Mid-American Ladies Tour / Evansville, IN
by Lea Andrews
Dawn Fox, who resurfaced into the regional ladies’ pool scene at June’s Jacoby Mid-American Ladies Tour with a ninth-place finish, celebrated Independence Day weekend by making her triumphant return to the winners’ circle at MALT’s Indiana State Women’s Championship. The $1,000-added event, which was a WPBA qualifier for the 2009 WPBA U.S. Open, drew a tough field of 14 ladies to O’Brian’s Sports Bar and Grill in Evansville, IN.
Some big names were put on the left side of the bracket early on, as round two saw former WPBA player Julie Comitini fall 9-7 to Fox, Julia Gabriel fall 9-5 to Borana Andoni, and Kathy Moon fall 9-7 to Tina Hess. Having made her debut in the U.S. by sending Becky Todd west 9-1 in the first round, Singapore’s number-one female player Charlene Chai went on to do the same in round two to Samantha Patton 9-7.
On Sunday, Fox had a strong 9-5 win over Andoni, while Chai edged past Hess 9-7. The one-loss side proved no place for them, though, as Patton put Andoni in fifth 9-8, and Comitini did the same to Hess 9-7. With a 9-4 win over Patton, Comitini was ready for her semifinal match. Her opponent, who had just ended up on the wrong end of a hill-hill battle with Fox, was not ready for her, though. With a very strong 9-5 win, Comitini ended Chai’s journey.
Though Comitini’s win was surely an excellent warm-up for the final match, which was a single race to 11, it wasn’t enough. Though the score seesawed to 7-all, a technical foul by Fox gave Comitini the edge, and then a break and run by Comitini put her on the hill 10-7. But Comitini missed the 9 ball in the next rack, and Fox not only capitalized on that error, she took the next three racks to win the set, the tournament, and the qualifying spot.
Dawn Fox, who resurfaced into the regional ladies’ pool scene at June’s Jacoby Mid-American Ladies Tour with a ninth-place finish, celebrated Independence Day weekend by making her triumphant return to the winners’ circle at MALT’s Indiana State Women’s Championship.
Results:
1st Dawn Fox $470
2nd Julie Comitini $322
3rd Charlene Chai $211
4th Samantha Patton $137
5th Borana Andoni $92
Tina Hess
7th Jan Jackson $63
Julia Gabriel
9th Kathy Moon $44
Judie Wilson
Becky Todd
Mary Cavanaugh