Took 3rd at Grand National - Earned My Masters!

Grand National 30 in Reno, NV was held on October 1st and 2nd. There were 526 players in the main tournament. I had a very consistent qualifying round, scoring a 31/14 + ~200 for 39th highest qualifying score out of the 132 qualifiers. I got a bye in the first round and started the second round of playoffs with 127 other people on Sunday morning at 7 am. In my first match I knocked out Peggy Cunningham of AZ 3-0. I should have been knocked out in the third round. I was playing Ken Conclin of WA and it was 2-2. He was only 6 holes out and I was 23 out, and he had first count. He got unlucky, only had a 2 hand and pegged 2 and I hit a 6 cut for a 24 hand and out to win the match. In the 4th round I took out Ron Logan of AZ 3-1 to get my Master's after 12 years of playing in the ACC! In the 5th round I knocked out Bryant Gilkeson of NV 3-1. That got me to the quarterfinals, and the lunch break. At 2 pm we resumed and in the 6th round I knocked out Hal Mueller of Ontario, Canada, inventor of Hal's Crib, 3-1. In the semi-finals (7th round) I was taken out by Ray Gonzales of Incline Village, NV, 3-2. He took the first two games. I fought back to get the next two, but he got a few key cuts to beat me by ~10 in the final game. It was more than double my most points (25 for qualifying and 196 for making the semis, 221 total) ever in a tournament. My previous best was 105 for taking second on a few separate occasions. (I've still never won a main!)