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Redemption
for Hofstatter in Las Vegas
Mike Panozzo
Saturday, May 20, 8:23 PM CST
For 12 months, Gerda Hofstatter lived with the disappointment of her 7-6 loss to
Allison Fisher in the final of the 1999 Billiard Congress of America Open 9-Ball
Championship. On Saturday afternoon, Hofstatter's pain was eased beyond her
wildest dreams in a 7-4 win over Fisher in the 2000 BCA Open finale.
"I'm so happy, I can't believe it," gushed the 29 year-old Austrian
transplant, after clinching the $15,000 top prize in the women's division of the
$160,000 tournament in Las Vegas. "This is awesome. I place this title
above the WPBA Nationals and the WPA World Championship, because I think this is the strongest field the women
play. It's
64 players, and all the best Americans are here, as well as the top Europeans
and Asians."
Disappointed with her performance in a 9-2 winner's bracket loss to Fisher
two days earlier, Hofstatter turned her focus to a quick start on Saturday. True
to her word, Hofstatter raced off to a 5-1 lead, before Fisher took advantage of a poor push-out at the start of the seventh game to quickly close
the gap to 5-4. Fisher scratched on the ensuing break, and Hofstatter rattled
through the rack, but missed a bank shot on the 9.
Attempting a long cut shot, Fisher barely grazed the 9, giving Hofstatter an
easy shot to reachthe hill, 6-4. She then worked carefully through the final
rack to earn the BCA title. "That was the key game," said Fisher. "I was back in
the match, and 5-5 would have reduced the match to a race-to-two. But I simply
overcut the ball. Barely feathered it. Still, I didn't play the way I should,
and Gerda played very well, especially at the start. I put too much pressure on
myself, and made some bad position errors."
"I concentrated on staying patient and not stressing out when she
started coming back," admitted Hofstatter. "I just needed to get back
to the table. I knew I was playing well, so I was confident. And when she
overcut the 9 ball, that was a big shot."
Fisher, the event's top-seed, received $7,500 as runnerup.
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