Jerome Weathers the Storm

By Bill Rosenberger

The scare of the spring snowstorm hindered a high turnout at Billiard Café in BattleCreek, MI, for the Jacoby Cues Great Lakes Tour stop.  Even so, 15 ladies from Minnesota, Illinois, Ohio, and Michigan turned out for the April 23-24 event and enjoyed the hospitality of room owner and former pro player Jamie Goodwin

 The winners' bracket was led by the play of tour owner Julie Melman, who mastered the field o­n her way to the hot seat match where she faced Kelly Pendleton.  Melman's 7-4 win launched her into the finals and sent Pendleton to the semifinals to face another tough opponent.

C.J. Jerome, the tour's 2004 player of the year, fell 7-3 in the second round to Angela Mears but bounced back with four straight wins to reach the semis.  In what was arguably the best match of the day, Jerome and Pendleton traded games back and forth until they reached hill-hill.  In the final rack, Pendleton scratched o­n the break, and Jerome ran out the rack to reach the finals. 

The final match pitted two of the tour's best players in Melman and Jerome, but the play of Jerome was all that was noteworthy in this title bout.  After Melman tied up the score at 1 apiece, Jerome notched eight straight games to earn the victory and a WPBA qualifier. 

Results:

1st C.J. Jerome $400 + qualifier
2nd Julie Melman $250
3rd Kelly Pendleton $175
4th Tammy Zetzer $110
5th Sunny Ulrich, Angela Mears $45

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