Dispelling Any Doubts

Still, after winning the season-ending event of 2008, Webb had to endure an excruciating four-month wait for the Classic Tour’s inaugural 2009 tournament. (Although she did find time to buy herself a celebratory black-on-black 2005 Infinity V-35.) In addition to not having tournaments in which to stay sharp, Webb was buried in architectural drawings, permits and bills as she and best friend/WPBA star Helena Thornfeldt worked tirelessly to complete construction of their soon-to-be-opened 10-table poolroom, Stix, in Villa Rica, Ga., about 30 miles west of Atlanta.

“The pressure shifted from winning a tournament to getting the room opened,” Webb joked. “It overwhelmed me for a while, but it also forced me to relax.”

While Webb didn’t play in tournaments during her layoff, she practiced long hours to keep both her physical and mental game sharp.

“I wished I could have played the next event the very next week after winning,” she said. “But I had to wait, so I practiced a lot,” she said. “And I kept reminding myself to maintain the same frame of mind that I had at the end of 2008 — doing my best on every single shot and being content with the results. But it was hard letting go of the agony of wishing I’d have won before.”

By all appearances, Webb successfully let go of any agony at the Viejas Casino, motoring unbeaten through the 64-player field. Not, however, without an early-round scare.

After pummeling Rachel Abbink, 9-3, in the opening round, Webb needed the maximum 17 games to vanquish Texas cowgirl Kim White in her next match.

“It was a really good match,” Webb conceded. “Kim played really well, and so did I. Fortunately, I had the break in the final game and ran out.”

Webb had little trouble in the subsequent rounds, dumping Norway’s Line Kjorsvik, 9-2, and Tiffany Nelson-Crain, 9-4. Korea’s 21-year-old Yu Ram Cha, the Classic Tour’s new glamour girl, kept things tight in the quarterfinals, but Webb held on for a 9-7 win to advance to her third consecutive TV semifinal.

The bulk of the damage done in Alpine was through the surprisingly star-stacked one-loss bracket. Reigning player of the year Kelly Fisher, who looked in fine form while whitewashing Stacy Novack, 9-0, in her opener, found herself on the wrong side of a 9-8 score in the second round against Taiwan’s Jennifer Chen. Second-ranked Karen Corr put herself in the losers bracket by forfeiting her third-round match against Iris Ranola. Corr, who opened with wins over Susan Williams (9-5) and Ewa Laurance (9-7), attempted to battle through severe neck pain in her match with Ranola. Trailing, 5-2, Corr unscrewed her cue and resigned, hoping to recover in time to battle through the losers bracket the following day.

A game Corr did, in fact, rebound, ousting White, 9-6, before dropping a 9-6 decision to Xiaoting Pan.

The most surprising early-round loser, however, was wayward Jasmin Ouschan, whose decision to skip a Classic Tour event in October earned her a suspension and prevented her from competing in the WPBA Nationals. Instead of exacting quick revenge in the year’s first tournament, the Austrian unceremoniously dropped her first match, 9-7, to unheralded Eleanor Callado. Still, Ouschan battled back, winning three straight before being stopped just short of the final 16 by Thornfeldt, 9-6.

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