Thrilling District 7 NAOP Finals
by District 7 Reporter

Close competition

- and that's putting it mildly - has been the hallmark of District 7 NAOP finals the past several years. This year was no exception, as the difference between a free trip to the Spring NABC at Cincinnati and no free trip was 1.31 matchpoints in Flight A, 1.0 in Flight
B and 0.5 in Flight C. And that's over 52 or 54 boards. Ouch!

The ACBL subsidizes the top two pairs in each flight and the district - through funds from local qualifying games - ponies up for the third-place finishers. The ACBL rewards one district in Flight A and two each in B and C with an additional free trip based on participation. Our district frequently gets the "bonus trip" in Flight B or C, but this year fell short (Flight B ranked third among the 25 districts).

All states in our district will be represented in Cincinnati: Four pairs are from Georgia State Unit 114; two from South Carolina Unit 160; and one pair each from units around Knoxville, Chapel Hill and Charlotte.

Flight A pairs took two different routes to their success. First- and second-place finishers, Bob Heller-Emory Whitaker and Kevin Collins-Patty Tucker, had a consistent day, with games both sessions in the mid-50s to low-60s percentage-wise. But third-place finishers Richard Brown and Wayne Hollingsworth had a below-average game in the afternoon before blowing away
the rest of the field with a 65.23 percent game in the evening.

The story in Flight B was redemption of sorts. Paul Hawkins and Pat Jankovic, of the Knoxville area, placed second. Last year, they thought they had won a trip, too, but the ACBL discovered that Paul was not a paid-up member, thus disqualifying the pair. That problem obviously was remedied this time around.

The district finals were Dec. 11-12 at West Columbia, SC.