Andy Harris, Kelly Farrar, Room owner Robert West and Thomas Sansone
Virginia’s Thomas Sansone recorded his first cash payout with us at AZBilliards just over two years ago (Nov. ’21), finishing 7th at a stop on what was then the Viking Cues Q City 9-Ball Tour. This past weekend (March 9-10), he recorded his 12th cash payout on the tour and technically, his second win on what is now the PremierBilliards.com’s Q City 9-Ball Tour. Sitting in the hot seat of the $500-added event that drew a remarkable 59 entrants to Dot’s Cue Club in West Rocky Mount, NC, late on Saturday night and looking ahead to a long drive home, Sansone decided to split the remaining money still ‘on the table’ among the last three competitors.
It was trip to the winner’s circle not without its challenges. Sansone faced and defeated five challengers to get to the hot seat. Three of them had their own wins on the tour and one (Jose Irrizary) who battled him to double hill in a winners’ side semifinal that eventually put him into the hot seat match.
Went like this: Sansone opened with a 7-4 win over Glenn Weatherly, defeated former junior competitor Joey Tate 7-3 and Travis Guerra 7-2 to arrive at the winners’ side semifinal against Irizarry, advancing from there to the hot seat match. From the other end of the bracket, Andy Harris was battling opponents who were giving him a range of ‘beads’ on the wire at the start of his matches, many of them that he would prove he didn’t really need. With two of those ‘beads,’ against Brian Floyd (racing to 6) in his opening round, Harris won 4-4. With one versus Ricky Dickson, he prevailed 4-2. In his only straight-up race to 4, Harris downed Angela Sabian 4-1. He then gave up just one rack to Dave Brown (racing to 7) and in the other winners’ side semifinal, gave up two to Chris Rhoades, racing to 6.
Sansone was giving Harris three ‘beads on the wire’ in a race to seven as they battled for the hot seat. Guess what? Double hill. Harris completed his undefeated run to the hot seat in what proved to be his last match.
Those ‘in the know,’ so to speak, were wondering, as loss-side competition was making its way to the quarterfinals, whether the youngster, Joey Tate, was going to match up against his Dad, Randy Tate. As brackets do, they separate players into upper and lower brackets which work their way forward, with two from each end destined to meet in the quarterfinals. If the father/son match was going to happen in this event, it was going to happen there.
Joey did his part. Following his loss to Sansone in the second round, he got by four opponents to draw a rematch against Irizarry, coming over from the winners’ side semifinal; Travis Shelton (1), another junior (one of 13 juniors and women who competed), John Mawyin (2), Dave Brown (1), Steve Page (4) and in his rematch against Irizarry, he battled to double hill and advanced to where he needed to be to meet up with his Dad.
In the meantime, racing to 6, Randy Tate, who’d lost his second-round match to Irizarry, was doing well, winning four of his loss-side matches by an aggregate score of 18-1 (three matches, one forfeit), in the middle of which he’d survived a double-hill battle against Robert West. The one competitor who’d chalked up the lone rack against him was his own daughter, Bethany, younger sister to Joey. Tate advanced from that win and leapfrogged by forfeit over Travis Guerra, meeting up with Kelly Farrar, who battled him to double hill before advancing to pick up Chris Rhoades, on-arrival from his winners’ side semifinal loss. Farrar downed Rhoades 8-3 and joined Joey Tate in the quarterfinals.
In what was likely a surprise to many (Joey Tate among them, Farrar not so much), Farrar defeated Tate 8-2 in what proved to be the last match of the night. Farrar and Andy Harris negotiated their split of the remaining cash (Sansone had left earlier with an agreed-upon amount) and it was over.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked Dot’s Cue Club owners Robert West and Jesse Gilbert for their hospitality, along with title sponsor PremierBilliards.com, BarPoolTables.net (Randy Tate), TKO Custom Cues and Realty One Group results (Kirk Overcash), Dirty South Grind Apparel (Angela Harlan-Parker), Federal Savings Bank (Alex Narod), CHC Underground (Chris Clary) and AZBilliards.
The next stop on the PremierBilliards.com Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend (March 16-17), will be a $300-added event, hosted by a new venue for the tour, Brews & Cues (formerly TNT Billiards) in Franklin, NC.
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