Lindauer Leaps Across the Finish Line
Ladies Spirit Tour / Palm Harbor, FL
by Rick Davis
Laura Lindauer upset the field of 41 players to go undefeated on the Ladies Spirit Tour June 2-3 event. Taking place at Strokers in Palm Harbor, FL, the fourth stop of the season brought out a great field of players for a wonderful event.
Early in the event the Cha sisters, Bo-Ram and Yu-Ram, were the favorites; however, Bo-Ram was defeated 7-3 by Tina Hess in her first round. Before long, two hot streaks were apparent as Yu-Ram and Lindauer each tore through the event. Both were in the unlucky one-third of the field to not receive a first-round bye, although that did not stop them from taking five matches to reach the hot seat match. On the way Yu-Ram drilled tour regulars Jessica Barnes 7-1 and Tracie Hines 7-2 then continued her reign by destroying past Spirit winner Debbie Schjodt 7-0. Lindauer had a somewhat easier run, but she worked hard for each match, nearing double-hill on several.
On the one-loss side, the ghosts of previous winners came back to haunt. Jeannie Seaver, who won the season’s first stop, put together six matches after her initial loss to reach the quarterfinals, while Schjodt, winner of the second stop, slipped past Barnes 7-6 to rise to the same plateau. Among the fallen players, Bo-Ram was upset 7-4 by Vanessa Seaver, while tour regular Ellen Van Buren had her four-match comeback streak ended by Tracie Hines 7-2.
The top tier of players began their countdown to the finals as Lindauer bested Cha 7-5 in the hot seat match. On the one-loss side Seaver ousted Schjodt 7-2 in the quarterfinals then got ousted herself as Cha gave her a 7-3 spanking. With the finals on hand, the rematch between Cha and Lindauer ground to double-hill, with Cha taking the opening set. In the last match of the event, Cha continued to find unexpected resistance as the last set went double-hill again. Lindauer finally stepped up though and took the last rack just in time to win the match double-hill and claim the event through an unexpected finish.
Results:
1st Laura Lindauer
2nd Yu-Ram Cha
3rd Jeannie Seaver
4th Debbie Schjodt