Champions Tournament (Top Gun)

On May 9th the Northland (of Kansas City) APA League held their annual Top Gun tournament for the top players in all the divisions over the last three sessions. I was one of the 32 players honored with an invitation, my second such in the two years I've been playing APA, and felt it would be a great opportunity to play against the top players who we will most likely face in the upcoming City Tournament. (I was under no delusions of finishing in the money!)

My first match was pretty sad and I ended up being skunked 5-0 by an S/L 7. The next match, against an S/L 6, was better. After falling behind 3-0 I came back to win the next three games and the match.

Next I matched up against an S/L 5, the same one that gave me my first loss of the session. I played much better and was up 2-1 and needed just one more win to take the match and to keep playing. One game I was playing pretty well and I actually performed a sweet kick shot to pocket my last object ball. Unfortunately I left the cue sitting near the corner pocket and could not see the 8 ball through the 6 or so object balls my opponent had left on the table. Fearing a scratch I picked up the cue and handed it to my opponent. At the time I thought it was a smart move on my part only to realize later that I should have tried to cluster up some of his balls when faced with giving him ball in hand. I'll try to remember that lesson for years to come.