Where do I start? I just finished processing over 500 pictures, and I am a little bit drowsy, but this is what I witnessed yesterday in Sonoma.
As you probably already know, there were 50 teams (100 players) participating in the 2023 Wine Country Open. I understand that some participants came from far away to compete for the title but ultimately the big prize remained on our own turf in California.
The event started on Saturday and ended Sunday evening after an excellent final game.
I am not going to talk about everything that transpired that day, but basically, there were 4 categories: Concours A, Concours B, Consolante A, and Consolante B.
Sunday, starting around 11:00 am, I took pictures of everything in sight without really knowing what was taking place. The only thing I know for sure (and witnessed from beginning to end), was Concours A finals.
It was a game opposing Paul Moua and By Wang to PJ Malette and Christophe Sarafian. It proved to be a great finish for this 2-day event, and a lot of people stayed late to watch that game. The 2 teams were evenly matched, with good pointers and good shooters on both sides.
Both teams played very well and took the lead back and forth until 6:24 pm when both squads reached a score of 10-10. At this point, any team could have won, but By Wang’s awesome shooting (despite a desperate attempt by PJ to drown the jack) made the difference. On the last “mène” he scored 3 points and closed the deal.
Paul Moua and By Wang won the event with a final score of 13/10.
This is all I will say. I will let the pictures do the rest.
Alain
PS: the pictures are shown in 2 albums Part One and Part Two (featuring Concours A finals). Enjoy.
Just received from Joe LaTorre:
Concours A
1st. Paul Moua / By Vang
2nd PJ Mallette / Christophe Sarafian
3rd Jean-Michel Poulnot / Pascal Tisseur
4th Kham Chounlamany / Tim Peppel
Concours B
1st Will Poire / Lizzie Poire
2nd Dave Lanter / Chan Xiong
3rd Peter Mathis / Carlos Pez
4th Lisa Skerl / Barbara Hall
Consolante A
1st Adair Hastings / Ashlee Dencklau
2nd Maggie Lane / Ernesto Santos
3rd/4th Ed Porto / Antoine Lofaro, Philippe Arnaud / Paulo Custred (prizes split)
Consolante B
1st Hendrik Idzerda / Peter Taylor
2nd Phillipe Guerit / Serge Hanne
3rd Joe Danielson / Sara Danielson