The Falcon Cue 9-Ball Tour held its second event of the new season February 15/16 at Bill & Billies Cuesport in Arnold, MD. The weather reports Friday were ominous as a snowstorm of historic proportions was on its way. Saturday morning conditions proved to be somewhat bearable as 58 players showed up while the snow slowly piled up outside. The owners of Bill & Billies Cuesport and Falcon Cues made the added money of $2500 possible for the Open and Women's division.
Early round matchups provided some excitement as Tony Annigoni from California knocked off last event's second place finisher Jim Henson. Jim McAdams has been playing very well lately and took down both Filipino sensation Ramil Gallego and Annigoni. By Saturday evening, the field was down to just 12 players scheduled to return on Sunday.
Returning on Sunday proved to be quite a challenge as well over a foot of snow had fallen during the night and continued to come down heavily. There were just 3 forfeits as the players were eager to press on. Local star Brian O'Donnell edged into the hot seat with a hill-hill victory over out-of-towner Amar Kang. Ramil Gallego had just won his 8th match on the one-loss side putting Alan Duty into 4th place, his best finish to date. Kang quickly put an end to Gallego's run with a 7-2 victory. The precise shooting Kang worked his way through the first set of the true double elimination final with a 9-6 win over O'Donnell. By this time Kang was in gear and rolled 9-1 in the second set to take the title and the $1100 first place prize. O'Donnell earned $700 for his 2nd place finish with $500 and $300 for Gallego and Duty.
7 women also braved the weather conditions for their Sunday only event. The out-of-town players again dominated as Nicole Mancini from Rhode Island plowed her way into the hot seat with a victory over Pamela Bell from Wisconsin. Bell came back for a second shot but Mancini dominated 7-0 to take the $340 first place money. Bell earned $210 for second with tournament director Amy Tourison taking home $160 for 3rd.
The Falcon Cue 9-Ball Tour event 3 will be at Orange Ball Billiards in Rockville, MD on March 1st. Complete results are available on the website at http://www.FalconCueTour.com
