PoolRoom

Fisher crowned “Champion of Champions”

58aAllison Fisher captured her biggest victory of the year by beating Karen Corr in sudden death to claim the winner-takes-all International Tournament of Champions at Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Conn., on Nov. 8. The victory netted Fisher, the No. 2-ranked player on the Women’s Professional Billiard Association’s Classic Tour, $25,000 for first place in the four-play star-studded event to be televised on ESPN.

Fisher, who handed over the WPBA’s top ranking to a red-hot Corr in June, has lost to Corr in the last three Classic Tour stops. At the Tournament of Champions, though, Fisher controlled the deciding sudden-death tiebreaker game to secure the win. “I feel like I just won an Olympic Gold Medal,” said Fisher, who topped Helena Thornfeldt in the semifinals. “One shot missed and you can lose $25,000! Your emotions are off the chart during the entire tournament.”

Comeback Queen

55aFor the third consecutive Classic Tour event, Karen Corr rebounded from an earlier loss to win a tournament championship. This time Corr did it at the Women’s Professional Billiard Association Midwest Classic at Palace Billiards in Villa Park, Ill., Oct. 11-14, recovering from a loss to Fisher in the winner’s-bracket finale to oust Fisher in the final, 7-4.

Corr, who has swept all five 2001 Classic Tour events this season excluding the Billiard Congress of America 9-Ball Championships, extended her points lead in the WPBA rankings over Fisher with the victory. The $7,500 payday also pushed Corr’s 2001 WPBA Classic Tour earnings to $45,000, surpassing last year’s total of $40,500, with the 2001 WPBA National Championships still left to play this season. Fisher collected $5,500 for second, while Gerda Hofstatter earned $4,500 for third — her best finish since winning the BCA 9-Ball Championship in May 2000.

Comfortable at the Top

Top-ranked Karen Corr widened her points lead over No. 2 Allison Fisher, winning by the narrowest of margins at Sandia Casino on Sept. 9. Corr’s 7-6 win over Fisher in the final of the Classic Tour’s fourth stop of the season netted Corr $7,500, and doubled her lead over Fisher in the rankings to an 80-point advantage.

The former snooker stars were even at 6-6 heading into the final game, where Corr pulled out the win to give her victories in all four Classic Tour stops this season. Only Jeanette Lee’s victory at the Billiard Congress of America 9-Ball Championships has kept Corr from a perfect 2001 season thus far.

Lee, who recently captured the Gold Medal for the United States in the women’s 9-ball division of the World Games in Akita, Japan, finished in third place. Ewa Laurance took fourth.

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 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.

Allison Fisher beat down her rivals with a smile.

Allison Fisher, the “Duchess of Doom” reclaimed her top ranking over the course of a single event at the Women’s Professional Billiard Association season opener, the Delta Classic at Sam’s Town Casino in Tunica, Miss., March 5-9. Fisher defeated Jeanette Lee, 7-5, in the finals while former chart-topper Karen Corr languished in ninth place. The disappearance of Corr’s 155-point lead over Fisher can be credited mostly to the precipitous 150-point drop that Corr suffered as a result of finishing ninth.

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.

Karen Corr is fighting back.

Women’s Professional Billiards Association points-leader Karen Corr may be getting back into the swing of things. Corr defeated her perennial nemesis Allison Fisher, 7-5, in the finals of the WPBA Women’s National 9-Ball Championship, held Dec. 5-8 in Miami, Fla.

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.

Allison Takes All

323aAllison Fisher continued her dominant play of late by defeating Karen Corr in a $25,000 sudden-death playoff in the International Tournament of Champions, held Nov. 6-7 at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Conn.

In the finals, each player took a set in the race-to-five format, leaving a single game to determine the champion. Fisher won the lag, made the 1 ball on the break and proceeded to run the table. The champion pocketed $25,000 in the winner-take-all competition.

In the semifinals of the four-player tournament, Corr defeated Helena Thornfeldt, 5-1 and 5-2, while Fisher bested Jeanette Lee, 5-4 and 5-4.

Corr Falls to Fisher at Fall Classic

320aContinuing a streak that’s starting to look like a comeback, Allison Fisher defeated longtime rival Karen Corr, 7-1, in the finals of the Women’s Professional Billiards Association’s Fall Classic, Oct. 2-6 at Amsterdam Billiards in New York, N.Y.

Fisher’s first game of the tournament brought an unexpected scare, when Canada’s Anita Kuczma took it to the hill before Fisher pulled off the 9-8 win. Fisher went on to win decisive victories over Julie Kelly, 9-1, Vivian Villareal, 9-2, and Monica Webb, 9-4, before another surprise trip to the hill, this time against Belinda Campos, put Fisher on the losers’ side. Fisher got her wind back, defeating Helena Thornfeldt, 7-4, Campos, 7-2, and finally Corr.

With this win, Fisher continues to creep up on Corr in the point rankings. This event earned Fisher 75 points, bringing her to 1615, while Corr holds steady at the top of the chart with 1770 points.

Always a Bridesmaid, Finally a Bride

Thornfeldt finally overcame them all. (Photo: Carla Bonner)

Thornfeldt finally overcame them all. (Photo: Carla Bonner)

Helena Thornfeldt has won her first Women’s Professional Billiards Association title since the Seattle Classic in 1996. Thornfeldt, who has steadily held the fourth or fifth place in the WPBA rankings, went undefeated at the U.S. Open, held Sept. 4-8 at the Sandia Casino in Albuquerque, N.M. Her trip to the top included wins over Belinda Campos, 9-6, and Julie Kelly, 9-7, as well as wins over No. 1 Karen Corr, 9-7, and No. 2 Allison Fisher, 9-6.

Thornfeldt’s win was worth $11,000. Runner-up Fisher took home $8,000, and third-place Corr settled for $6,000. The WPBA’s next stop is the Cuetec Cues Fall Classic, Oct. 2-6, at Amsterdam Billiard Club East in New York City.