“Little Lightning” Strikes Twice: Yu Ram Cha Tops Men’s Field at the Ozone Orlando 10-ball Open

By NYC grind.com Contributing Writer “The Other” Alison Fischer

On Sunday, April 19th, Dragon Promotions and Ozone Billiards presented the Ozone Orlando 10-Ball Open at Corner Pocket Billiards in Orlando, Florida.  

The host room, Corner Pocket, is now under new management, and plans on continuing to add new equipment and events to cater to their growing clientele.  It is definitely a unique establishment, and features some very cool billiards memorabilia as well.

This handicapped event featured a number of Florida’s top players, including Thorsten Hohmann, Charlie Williams, Adam Wheeler, and current #5 ranked WPBA pro, Yu-Ram Cha.

Although there were a few well-known names, the handicapped format also attracted a lot of local players of different levels.  The handicapping system was based on game spots–with beginner players racing to 3 games and top pros going to 8.

Click Here for the Photos from This Event…

Be sure to read the story to check out a video montage produced by NYCgrind from the event!

A number of amateur ladies participated in this event as well, including Orlando-based Shanelle Loraine, U.S. Amateur Champion Michell Monk, aspiring pro Zarah Delrosario of Chicago, Tiger Bay Area Amateur Tour player Nicole Winters of Tampa, and Star Leventhal of Philadelphia, who was the highest-finishing amateur woman in this event.

The highlight player of this mainly men’s field was in fact a woman.  21-year-old Korean phenom, Yu-Ram Cha took on this 32-player field and came out on top.  Cha is coached by Dragon Promotions founder Charlie Williams, and was named the WPBA’s Most Improved Player of 2008…  after making a statement by  finishing in 3rd place at the WPBA U.S. Open.

The road to the finals was far from easy, and Cha showed exemplary determination and heart in this event. Cha not only defeated every amateur she played in this event, but also defeated World Champion, Thorsten Hohmann twice. 

In their first match, Thorsten would have to win 7 games while Yu-Ram would need 5, and the two players battled back and forth staying neck and neck.  With the score tied 3-3, Thorsten would scratch while banking the 8, for Yu-Ram to get to the hill.  

Thorsten then tied it back up after a successful safety in the following game to run out, making it 4-4, but Yu-Ram would prevent him from taking control of the match with a strong runout in the following game, winning 5-4. This win landed her in the final winner’s side match against her mentor, Charlie Williams.

On the other side of the winner’s bracket, Charlie remained in control, dominantly defeating George Saunders 8-4, to then match up with Adam Wheeler. In this match, Adam would need 6 games, while Charlie would need 7 games to win. Charlie jumped to a 3-1 lead, but in the 5th game Adam made a 1-10 combo to close the gap to 1 game.  

Charlie then pulled ahead to get on the hill with a 6-2 lead, but Adam gave him a run for his money, returning 3 more games to make it hill-hill.  In the final game, Charlie edged out a safety battle against Adam to claim the match.

The Hot-Seat Match: 

In Yu-Ram and Charlie’s student vs. teacher face-off for the hot seat, Cha took an early 2-1 lead, however Charlie would win 5 consecutive games, firing on all cylinders. With the score 6-2, Charlie broke dry, but Yu-Ram would would miss a safety on the 1-ball, allowing him to run out and win the match.  

On The One-Loss Side…

After his loss to Charlie Williams, Adam Wheeler met with Travis Moore on the one-loss side.  Wheeler got to the hill with a 5-3 lead, but gave Moore a chance after double kissing a bank on the 10-ball to make another hill-hill match for Wheeler.  Moore broke in the final game, making the 1-ball, but left himself hooked after making the 2-ball, giving away the match to Wheeler.

Quarter-Finals: 

Thorsten Hohmann was coming back with a vengeance, nailing George Saunders 8-2 to make it to the Quarterfinals against Adam Wheeler. In the quarter-final match, Hohmann came out of the gate with two solid wins. Wheeler got on the board in the 3rd game, but came up dry for Hohmann to run out for a 2-game lead. Hohmann never looked back from there, winning dominantly 7-2.

Semi-Finals:

Well, Hohmann got another chance at Cha in the semi-finals, but it was not meant to be.  Cha came out of the gate running out from the break, and looked very in control throughout the match, although Hohmann stayed in line with her until the score was tied 3-3, when Cha pulled away to win the match 5-3 and make it to the finals.

Student vs. Teacher: The Finals…

Cha’s second rematch of the night was against her mentor, Charlie Williams, in the finals. Charlie would need 7 games to win, which Y-Ram would need 5. By that time it was already 3:00 am and both players had to muster up their focus to stay on the top of their games.

Both players were fighting tooth and nail, taking advantage of every chance they got. With the score tied at 3-3, Cha made a few mistakes, scratching on the 1-ball, giving Charlie the lead, then hanging up a 4-ball to make the score 5-3. 

In the following rack, Charlie broke and ran to get to the hill, and it looked like it would be all over from there. However, Charlie fouled while attempting to jump a ball in the would-be winning game, and Yu-Ram ran out tie make it hill-hill.

In the hill-hill game, Yu-Ram scratched on the break, but Charlie missed shape on the 3-ball and missed.  Yu-Ram ran out a tricky table for the win.

With each player having lost one match, they decided to play one final game for the championship. In the final game, Charlie missed a safety, but still left Yu-Ram a tough shot on the 2-ball, which she missed. 

What followed was a strange turn of events. The only thing stopping Charlie from running out the rack was that the 4 and the 10-ball were tied up. After Charlie pocketed the 3, the cue ball landed right behind the 10-ball, with no shot on the 4, as shown below in the CueTable diagram (which you will need Adobe Shockwave to view).

 

Charlie then kicked at the 4, made contact with it, but then scratched in the corner off the 10 ball, somehow leaving the 4 and 10 perfectly aligned on the rail. Yu-Ram then pocketed the 4-10 combination to win!

After the match, I had the chance to briefly speak with Yu-Ram, who told me this was her first time playing Charlie in the finals of a tournament. She was very happy to have won the match, and said that although she was tired, she “just never gave up.”

Congratulations to Yu-Ram Cha for an outstanding performance in this event, as well as Saturday’s ladies event.  Watch for Yu-Ram as she competes in the upcoming Women’s World 10-Ball Qualifier set for May 4th as well as the Predator World 10-ball Championships in Las Vegas.

 

Payout:

1st:  Yu-Ram Cha  $400

2nd:  Charlie Williams  $200

3rd:  Thorsten Hohmann  $120

4th:  Adam Wheeler  $100

5th/6th:  Travis Moore, George Saunders  $75

7th/8th:  Todd Anderson, Mark Oly  $50

9th/12:  Lincoln Seiffert, Miguel Pabon, Ted Lepak, Michael Hutcheson  $10 + $10 gift certificate for pool time