U S OPEN
8 - 12 December 1999
This enjoyable annual tournament, organized by
Stan Patmor with assistance from Jane McDonnell,
took place as usual at the Indian Ridge and
Mission Hills courts in the Palm Springs area.
On Thursday evening the players were well entertained
by Ellery McClatchy at his home.
A FLIGHT
Game duration was 2 hours (with no stoppage for
double banking interference). The 10 players formed
a single block. The block winner went straight to
the final while the 6th place finisher played against
the 5th, the winner of this game against the 4th and
so on until a second finalist was determined. The
final match was a best-of-three.
BLOCK RESULTS (in chronological order):
Jeff Soo beat Maryholt Maxwell +24
Rory Kelley beat Gordon Milse +23
Jacques Fournier beat Richard Tucker +23
Don Fournier beat Johnny Mitchell 19 - 4
Jeff Soo beat Gordon Milse +26 tp
Rory Kelley beat Maryholt Maxwell +25
Jacques Fournier beat Johnny Mitchell +25
Louis Nel beat Bill Martin 21 - 13
Jacques Fournier beat Jeff Soo 25 - 24
Gordon Milse beat Maryholt Maxwell 20 - 12
Bill Martin beat Richard Tucker 16 - 8
Don_jr Fournier beat Louis Nel 14 - 13
Rory Kelley beat Johnny Mitchell +20
Louis Nel beat Richard Tucker +20
Bill Martin beat Don_jr Fournier 22 - 9
Louis Nel beat Jeff Soo 22 - 14
Jacques Fournier beat Maryholt Maxwell +25
Bill Martin beat Gordon Milse +19
Don_jr Fournier beat Richard Tucker +12 tp
Jeff Soo beat Richard Tucker +22
Don_jr Fournier beat Maryholt Maxwell +26 tp
Rory Kelley beat Bill Martin 14 - 12
Louis Nel beat Johnny Mitchell 20 - 19
Louis Nel beat Gordon Milse 24 - 20
Rory Kelley beat Don_jr Fournier 22 - 11
Jacques Fournier beat Bill Martin +13
Johnny Mitchell beat Richard Tucker +25
Rory Kelley beat Jeff Soo +22
Johnny Mitchell beat maryholt Maxwell +17 dp
Jacques Fournier beat Gordon Milse +24 tp
Bill Martin beat Maryholt Maxwell +23
Johnny Mitchell beat Gordon Milse 20 - 14
Jacques Fournier beat Rory Kelley +25 tp
Jeff Soo beat Johnny Mitchell +26 tp
Don_jr Fournier beat Gordon Milse +23 tp
Rory Kelley beat Richard Tucker 20 - 10
Louis Nel beat Jacques Fournier 22 - 11
Jeff Soo beat Don_jr Fournier +24 tp
Richard Tucker beat Maryholt Maxwell 18 - 9
Rory Kelley beat Louis Nel 22 - 13
Bill Martin beat Johnny Mitchell +20
Jeff Soo beat Bill Martin 20 - 13
Louis Nel beat Maryholt Maxwell +23
Gordon Milse beat Richard Tucker 17 - 11
Jacques Fournier beat Don Fournier +25
Standings after block play:
W-L Net Gross
1 Jacques Fournier 8-1 149 218
2 Rory Kelley 8-1 97 183
3 Louis Nel 7-2 65 187
4 Jeff Soo 6-3 97 191
5 Bill Martin 5-4 53 167
6 Don_jr Fournier 5-4 4 134
7 Johnny Mitchell 3-6 -64 110
8 Gordon Milse 2-7 -111 86
9 Richard Tucker 1-8 -110 82
10 Maryholt Maxwell 0-9 -180 40
A FLIGHT PLAY-OFF RESULTS:
Bill Martin beat Don_jr Fournier 21 - 7
Bill Martin beat Jeff Soo 22 - 10
Bill Martin beat Louis Nel 10 - 9
Bill Martin beat Rory Kelley 23 - 9
Jacques Fournier beat Bill Martin 11 - 10, +15 tp
Thus Jacques Fournier won first prize as well as
$500 awarded to a winner who is selected on a US
team.
THE FINAL MATCH
FIRST GAME. Martin hit in the 4th turn and proceeded
with a break and diagonal leave after 3-back. He
continued the relentless accuracy displayed in four
successive play-off games. When Fournier missed the
lift shot, Martin seemed all set to play a second
break but missed with the hoop shot at #2 -- his first such
miss in a long time. Some back and forth play ensued
and it was not until 82 minutes into the game when
Fournier got going on a break, quickly completed.
Another nonproductive period followed, with Martin
holding the slim lead of 10-9. With 5 minutes left
in the game, Fournier got control of the balls.
However, a sequence of misses on both sides
prolonged the agony for both players. In the final
minute, Fournier edged ahead and then put the four
balls in the four corners to prevail 11-10.
SECOND GAME. The early part of this game was almost
a carbon copy of the first. Martin again hit in the
4th turn (his partner in corner 2) and converted this
into a successful break. In this turn his pace
quickened -- it had been conspicuously slow in the
earlier play-off games. He again continued after the
missed lift shot and again broke down at #2. Fournier
got in and quickly completed his first break. At this
point the similarity with the first game abruptly
ended. Fournier soon got into a second break, which
involved elaborate maneuvering between #1 and #2 to
get things organized for a standard triple peel. That
happened as planned. Thus Fournier wins 11-10, +15 tp
in a match that ended the tournament on a beatiful
high note.
The traditional sumptuous lunch put a good finishing
touch to the closing ceremonies.
Final standings in A flight (with Player Scores for
our Player of the Year contest):
Pos Player Grade PS
1 Jacques Fournier 2502 1023 3 tp
2 Bill Martin 1934 985
3 Rory Kelley 2148 947
4 Louis Nel 1908 909
5 Jeff Soo 2184 871 3 tp
6 Don_jr Fournier 2268 834 3 tp
7 Johnny Mitchell 1736 796
8 Gordon Milse none 758
9 Richard Tucker 1685 720
10 Maryholt Maxwell none 0
----------------------------------------------------
B FLIGHT
The 16 players were divided into two blocks of 8.
Blue block results:
Charlie Sexton beat Woody Tarlow 13 - 12
Charlie Sexton beat Biff Roche 11 - 10
Charlie Sexton beat Melanie Marsac 16 - 9
Charlie Sexton beat Jim Butts 11 - 10
Charlie Sexton beat Martha Tucker 24 - 4
Ellery McClatchy beat Charlie Sexton 10 - 8
Charlie Sexton beat Jim Bonacci 15 - 13
Woody Tarlow beat Biff Roche 11 - 4
Melanie Marsac beat Woody Tarlow 8 - 4
Jim Butts beat Woody Tarlow +22
Woody Tarlow beat Martha Tucker 9 - 2
Ellery McClatchy beat Woody Tarlow 10 - 6
Jim Bonacci beat Woody Tarlow 11 - 6
Melanie Marsac beat Biff Roche 15 - 9
Jim Butts beat Biff Roche 24 - 13
Biff Roche beat Martha Tucker 5 - 4
Ellery McClatchy beat Biff Roche 12 - 7
Biff Roche beat Jim Bonacci 10 - 4
Jim Butts beat Melanie Marsac 22 - 15
Melanie Marsac beat Martha Tucker 9 - 4
Ellery McClatchy beat Melanie Marsac 13 - 5
Jim Bonacci beat Melanie Marsac 12 - 11
Jim Butts beat Martha Tucker 15 - 3
Jim Butts beat Ellery McClatchy 10 - 2
Jim Butts beat Jim Bonacci 15 - 12
Ellery McClatchy beat Martha Tucker 6 - 3
Jim Bonacci beat Martha Tucker 6 - 2
Jim Bonacci beat Ellery McClatchy 13 - 4
Blue block standings:
wins
1 Jim Butts 6 (+62)
2 Charlie Sexton 6 (+32)
3 Jim Bonacci 5 (+20)
4 Ellery McClatchy 5 (+5)
5 Melanie Marsac 3
6 Woody Tarlow 2 (-22)
7 Biff Roche 2 (-23)
8 Martha Tucker 0
Red Block results:
Ray Hamm beat Hope Harmon 11 - 6
Ray Hamm beat Elaine Fong 16 - 4
Ray Hamm beat Maurice Marsac 6 - 4
Bob Haden beat Ray Hamm 16 - 10
Ray Hamm beat Nancy Deupree 18 - 3
Ray Hamm beat Dick Pierce 12 - 5
Ray Hamm beat Pat Apple 13 - 7
Hope Harmon beat Elaine Fong 12 - 5
Maurice Marsac beat Hope Harmon 16 - 7
Bob Haden beat Hope Harmon +22
Hope Harmon beat Nancy Deupree 16 - 6
Hope Harmon beat Dick Pierce 10 - 9
Hope Harmon beat Pat Apple 14 - 6
Maurice Marsac beat Elaine Fong 17 - 3
Bob Haden beat Elaine Fong +25
Elaine Fong beat Nancy Deupree 10 - 2
Elaine Fong beat Dick Pierce 10 - 7
Elaine Fong beat Pat Apple 12 - 7
Bob Haden beat Maurice Marsac 10 - 9
Maurice Marsac beat Nancy Deupree 18 - 6
Maurice marsac beat Dick Pierce 23 - 2
Maurice Marsac beat Pat Apple 22 - 5
Bob Haden beat Nancy Deupree 23 - 6
Dick Pierce beat Bob haden 13 - 7
Bob Haden beat Pat Apple 14 - 8
Nancy Deupree beat Dick Pierce 8 - 7
Pat Apple beat Nancy Deupree 11 - 3
Pat Apple beat Dick Pierce 13 - 4
Red block standings:
wins
1 Bob Haden 6 (+71)
2 Ray Hamm 6 (+41)
3 Maurice Marsac 5
4 Hope Harmon 4
5 Elaine Fong 3
6 Pat Apple 2 (-25)
7 Nancy Deupree 2 (-39)
8 Dick Pierce 1
B flight play-off results:
Haden 26
Sexton 7 } Haden 12
McClatchy 3 } Sexton 5
} Marsac 6 } Butts
M Marsac 12 Butts 11
Hamm 7 } Butts 15
Harmon 4 } Bonacci 8
} Bonacci 11
Bonacci 24
B flight Final Standings:
1 Jim Butts
2 Bob Haden
3 Jim Bonacci
Charlie Sexton
5 Ray Hamm
Maurice Marsac
7 Hope Harmon
Ellery McClatchy
9 Elaine Fong
Melanie Marsac
11 Pat Apple
Nancy Deupree
Biff Roche
Woody Tarlow
15 Dick Pierce
16 Martha Tucker
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Last updated 15 Dec 2002