2019 Tour Championships to end tour season this weekend in Chesnee, SC

 

On the weekend of December 14-15, BJ Ussery chalked up his seventh win* on the 2019 Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. It was also the 9th time that he had finished as either the winner or runner-up this year, and also the 11th time that he’d finished among the top five. He competed in 13 of the tour’s events, as well as the Star City 10-Ball Shootout in Roanoke, VA, where he was runner-up to James Aranas and one Atlanta stop on the J. Pechauer Southeast Open 9-Ball Tour, which he won, downing Bernardo Esteban in the finals. In fact, 2019 was Ussery’s best recorded earnings year, dating back to AZBilliards’ first notations of his winnings, nearly 20 years ago, when he finished 65th at the US Open 9-Ball Championships in 2000.

 

Ussery and Earl Kent were to have met in the finals of the $1,000-added event that drew 42 entrants to The Clubhouse in Lynchburg, VA. By mutual agreement, they split the top two prizes and opted out of a final match.

 

Kent came through the loss side to earn the right to face Ussery in the finals. It was Ussery and James Blackburn who met in the hot seat match. Ussery had faced and defeated Billy Walker 11-4 in one of the winners’ side semifinals, as Blackburn downed Jason Holmes 9-3 in the other one. In what proved to be Ussery’s final match, he claimed the hot seat 11-5 over Blackburn.

 

On the loss side, Kent defeated Jason Evans 5-3 and then, Scott Roberts 5-2 to advance into the event’s first money round against Jason Holmes. Walker picked up Joshua Shultz, who’d defeated Daniel Adams, double hill, and Dylan Carr 6-2 to reach him.

 

Walker moved into the quarterfinals on the heels of a 6-4 win over Shultz. Kent joined him after eliminating Holmes 5-2. Kent took the quarterfinal match 5-3 over Walker.

 

Kent and Blackburn squared off in the event’s final match, the semifinals. Kent downed Blackburn 5-2 and earned himself a split with Ussery.

 

Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at The Clubhouse for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Bar Pool Tables, Delta 13 Racks, AZ Billiards and Professor Q-Ball. The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour will be its annual Tour Championships, this year scheduled for December 21-22. The $1,000-added event will be hosted by Break & Run Billiards in Chesnee, SC.

Taking a bit of a break from the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, BJ Ussery traveled to Georgia over the September 21-22 weekend to compete on the J. Pechauer SE Open 9-Ball Tour. Though he was not afforded the opportunity to compete against its tour director Tommy Kennedy (who normally participates, but did not on this stop), Ussery did go undefeated through a field of 43 entrants on-hand for the $1,000-added event, hosted by Mr. Cues II in Atlanta, GA.

 

Ussery missed competing against another renowned competitor, a West coast player who is reportedly now living in Georgia, Mary Rakin, who signed on to the event. She would end up in third place, missing the opportunity to face Ussery twice; both times, thwarted by the eventual event runner-up, Bernardo Esteban.

 

As Esteban was at work sending Rakin to the loss side 7-3 in one winners’ side semifinal, Ussery was busy with Kenny Nguyen in the other one, sending him over by the same 7-3 score. In their first of two, Ussery grabbed the hot seat 7-5 and then waited on Esteban’s return.

 

On the loss side, Rakin picked up Jeff Hooks, who’d recently defeated Sill Van Rooy 7-5 and Ron Gilbert 7-3. Nguyen drew Jason Jones, who’d shut out Elvis Newman and eliminated Raed Shabib 7-2.

 

Rakin advanced to the quarterfinals 7-3 over Hooks. Jones joined her after a 7-2 victory over Nguyen. Rakin had one more step to take and Jones battled her for it to the very double-hill end. She advanced for a second shot against Esteban in the semifinals.

 

Esteban upped his game by a rack, downing Rakin 7-2 in those semifinals, for his own second shot against Ussery in the hot seat. Ussery, though, upped his game as well. Racing to 9 in the finals, he gave up only a single rack and claimed the event title.

 

Tour director Tommy Kennedy thanked the ownership and staff at Mr. Cues II, as well as title sponsor J. Pechauer Custom Cues, Simonis Cloth and Mueller Recreational Products. The next stop on the J. Pechauer Southeast Open 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for October 24-26, will be the 5th Annual Dismal Swamp Thing, to be hosted by Colonial Cues in Elizabeth City, NC.