Jonathan Pinegar
With last year's winner (Robb Saez) in the broadcast booth with Ray Hansen on the PoolActionTV stream, Jonathan "Hennessee from Tennessee" Pinegar completed an undefeated run through a field of 122, on-hand for the 28th Annual Music City 9-Ball Open on the weekend of January 16-18, 2015. The $6,000-added event was hosted by JOB Billiards in Madison, TN and was launched on Friday night, with a $500-entry, winner-takes-all Midnight Madness event that saw Danny Smith defeat Robb Saez in the finals.
In the Open event, run concurrently with a 42-entrant ladies event (won by Teruko Cucculelli; separate story), Pinegar faced Justin Bergman twice; once in the hot seat and again in the final.
Pinegar had sent Justin Hall to the losers' bracket 11-6, as Bergman downed Shane McMinn 11-3. Pinegar took the first of two against Bergman 11-6 and waited in the hot seat for him to return.
On the loss side, McMinn drew Josh Roberts, who'd defeated Richie Richeson and Greg Hogue, both 11-7, to reach him. Hall picked up Danny Smith, who'd gotten by Josh O'Neal 11-3 and John Gabriel 11-8. Roberts handed McMinn his second straight loss 11-5, and in the quarterfinals, faced Hall, who'd ended Smith's run 11-9. Roberts took the quarterfinals 11-7 over Hall, before having his run ended by Bergman 11-8 in the semifinals.
Bergman had his second chance at Pinegar, and came out gunning. He won five straight, sinking three combinations on the 9-ball (the fifth, a 1-9 combination), and running the table from the outset twice.
Pinegar won the 6th rack to get on the board, but Bergman took the 7th. Pinegar used a 2-9 combination to open up a three-rack run to bring him within two at 6-4. In the match's first scratch off of a break, Bergman ran the table, but it proved to be his last. Bergman scratched breaking up rack #12, and turned the table over to Pinegar; for good, as it turned out.
Having lost five in a row at the start, Pinegar won 11 of the next 13, including three in a row to take his first lead at 8-7, and then, three more in a row to claim the event title.
