Plowman Takes Unusual Billiards Event

Arizona Women’s Billiard Tour / Phoenix, AZ
by Skip Maloney
There was some confusion about when exactly the tournament finals were to be played, but there was no confusion about who won it. Bonnie Plowman traveled from Colorado to Phoenix, AZ, for the Arizona Women’s Billiard Tour’s May 3-4 stop and took home first prize. The $500-added 8-ball event drew 18 entrants to Alexander’s Bar and Grill.
Played under the auspices of an Arizona rating system, the women played handicapped matches, equal to their Arizona rating, minus three. Under this format, Plowman, with an Arizona rating of 9, played Sara Miller, with a rating of 7, for the hot seat, forcing Plowman to win 6 before Miller won 4. They battled to a 3-2, early lead for Miller, which put her on the hill, before Bowman responded, winning the next four to assure her place in the finals.
Miller moved over to the one-loss side of the bracket, where she met Bernie Store, rated as an 8, in the semifinals. Store dropped Miller into third place with a 5-2 victory and moved on to face Colman in the finals.
While originally scheduled for Sunday morning, the final match actually took place on Saturday night, when some confusion reigned over whether the venue would be available in the morning. As it turned out, it was going to be available, but before that determination was made, Store and Plowman had moved to a table and started their match.
In the true double-elimination format, Plowman needed to win 6 games before Store won 5. Plowman made it a single-set victory, defeating Store 6-3 to capture the first-place prize.
Results:
1st Bonnie Plowman
2nd Bernie Store
3rd Sara Miller
4th Susan Williams
5th Kathleen Wallace
Holly Sholes
7th Holly Ryan
Marney Teague