For those of you not familiar with this event, it is held as a fundraiser for the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department D.A.R.E. program, with all the proceeds from entry fees, program advertisers, ticket sales, the raffle and auction, and other sponsorships going directly to D.A.R.E.

The idea behind the D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program is to educate school children about the dangers of illicit drugs in our society, in hopes that having the information will deter them from the obvious risks of substance abuse. Though the focus is on drugs and substance abuse, the program addresses such subjects as self-esteem, responsibility, decision-making skills and consequences. Ideally the D.A.R.E. Program will assist children in establishing a good value system and learning to make the right choices in their own lives. This will help steer them away from gangs, and into making the right kind of friends, and having sound family relationships.

In the previous 9 years of this event we have donated about $350,000 to D.A.R.E., a truly remarkable effort.

As mentioned earlier the Pro draw featured players from all over the world. All the matches were very well contested, but it was former world #4, Paul Price, from Australia, now ranked #20, but on the way back up after injury, who proved too strong for the rest of the field. He dropped a game in the semi-final and a game in the final, but each of them was a tie-breaker. The first game in the final against Azlan Iskandar from Malaysia was a fast and furious brutal 35 minutes, that Azlan took 17/16 after some much contested refereeing decisions, but also great squash. Price took the next two games a little easier, but had to come back from 14/11 down in the fourth to win the match 3-1 in 82 minutes.

The full Pro draw results were:

First round:
PAUL PRICE (AUS) (1) beat ROBERT GRAHAM (USA) 15/7 15/8 15/5
JAN KOUKAL (CZH) beat ALEX STAIT (ENG) (8) 11/15 15/4 15/11 15/13
JEAN-MICHEL ARCUCCI (FRA) (4) beat SHAWN DE LIERRE (CAN) 13/15 15/4 15/6 15/13
BEN GARNER (ENG) (5) beat PETER BARKER (ENG) 11/15 15/8 15/2 15/6
LIAM KENNY (IRL) beat LAURENS ANJEMA (HOL) (6) 15/13 15/7 13/15 15/7
LEE DREW (ENG) (3) beat DYLAN BENNETT (HOL) 15/9 12/15 15/4 15/8
MIKKEL KORSBJERG (DEN) (7) beat SCOTT FITZGERALD (WAL) 10/15 13/15 15/9 15/12 15/8
AZLAN ISKANDAR (MAL) (2) beat MARK HEATHER (ENG) 3/15 15/5 15/7 15/6

1/4 finals:
PAUL PRICE (1) beat JAN KOUKAL 15/10 15/10 15/13
BEN GARNER (5) beat JEAN-MICHEL ARCUCCI (4) 13/15 15/5 14/15 15/10 15/4
LIAM KENNY beat LEE DREW (3) 15/10 15/10 15/6
AZLAN ISKANDAR (2) beat MIKKEL KORSBJERG (7) 15/6 11/15 15/11 15/9

Semi finals:
PAUL PRICE (1) beat BEN GARNER (5) 15/5 15/13 14/15 15/8
AZLAN ISKANDAR (2) beat LIAM KENNY 15/6 15/13 15/4

Final:
PAUL PRICE (1) beat AZLAN ISKANDAR (2) 16/17 15/10 15/8 17/14 (82 mins)

Amateur play was fierce on every court all weekend, with every division hard-fought. Results of the finals were:
Mens 6.0 Paul Roberts (Las Vegas) beat Jamal Aldoaifi 9-3 9-5 2-9 9-7
Mens 5.0 Sam Hansen (LA) beat Steve Abbey (Santa Barbara) 7-9 2-9 9-7 9-4 9-0
Mens 4.5 Imran Ahmed (Irvine) beat Ahmed Adil (LA) 9-7 9-3 9-6
Mens 4.0 Brendan Searls (Santa Barbara) beat Hani Wazzan (Irvine) 6-9 9-3 9-7 9-1
Mens 3.5 Jeffrey Wong (LA) beat Erwin Rainak (Santa Barbara) 9-5 9-1 10-8
Mens 3.0 Marisa Vusich (LA) beat Nathalie Tremuel-Fourel (San Francisco) 7-9 9-1 9-1 9-0
Mens 2.5 Thomas John (Santa Barbara) beat Robert Woods (CATE School) 9-1 10-9 5-9 9-1
Mens 40+ Scott Brooksbank (Reno) beat Ian Gordon (Irvine) 2-9 3-9 9-5 9-4 9-6
Mens 60+ Jose Alonso (Orinda) beat Basil Honikman (Santa Barbara) 9-3 9-6 9-5
Womens 3.5 Marisa Vusich (LA) beat Nathalie Tremuel-Fourel (San Francisco) 9-1 7-9 9-5 6-9 10-9
Womens 2.5 Angelika Scott (Irvine) beat Allie Fisher (CATE School) 9-2 9-1 9-0

The accounting from the tournament is still being finalized but we hope that with the money from this year’s event the grand total donated to D.A.R.E. from the past 10 years will reach $400,000!!