Turning Stone X

Moi! = Thats Finnish and it means "Hi!".

Yep Yep, anyways I am in the west coast for a couple weeks escaping the cold from the Northeast of the country. As a matter of fact, not too long ago I was freezing my ass Upstate New York. It was the Turning Stone Classic X. 10th Anniversary tournament.
Just for you to know, I won the inaugural event in 2000. It was a 32 player invitational then, now it has grown into a 128 open field. First come, first serve. The tournament site has changed too, It used to be a ballroom in the old section of the Casino. Now its played in the Concert hall. Mike Zuglan does a wonderful job putting this tournament together. It is a beautiful Venue, really. The next tournament will be in Mid-August, by the way. So if anyone wants to see fine pool in fine surroundings, be sure to check this one out. (PGA Tour stop golf course by Turning Stone at your convenience!)

OK, so into the last event:

I was able to win two matches on the winners side before I fell to Ray McNamara. I was up 3-0 and missed an easy 6-ball to go up 4-0. Ray fought back, really played good and put me in a coma. thats pretty good. I mean it sucks for me. Oh well...So I knew it was going to be a long way back to finals if ever I was to win this one again. I started my path winning the next match against Holmes. The following match was against my friend Tony Robles. He is always a tough one. This time I managed to beat him. I came back from trailing a few racks but then "caught a gear"!. I would then dismantle the next 5 guys including Louis Ulrich 9-3 and a tighter match with Ronnie Wiseman 9-7. Then it was time to play Dennis Hatch. This match was the first time in the whole tournament I was simply incabable of making balls on the break. Dennis kept making 1-3 balls on the break. I really have to commend Dennis on his racking skills. He ranks to the top ten worse rackers I have seen. Not only that but while 1-1 I had to make a long shot on the 2 he was sanding his shafts in the corner of my eyes. That happened 3 times during the match. Well, some players have a hard time staying still. On top of that, he played great firing balls in as if it was a bar table. No, wait! He did miss maybe 5 shots of which I was hooked every time. So I was beginning to wonder, He must run out of luck soon. At least from a statistical point of view. It was a race to 9, so i ended loosing 9-6. I was actually happy to get that many games considering how many things I had going against me that set. Trust me.

So I ended finishing 4th. I heard Jeremy Sossei got some rolls against Hatch in semifinals so Dennis had to settle for 3rd.
Archer outlasted Sossei in the finals which apparently was taking a bit long to finish. I heard people were yaning a little. Might wanna put a shot-clock on these guys sometimes. Sorry for brutal honesty. But thats the way I roll.

Take care

Mika