It was a weekend of pool sprints and marathons; two race-to-three, single elimination tournaments, one race-to-four Second Chance tournament and a main, $3,500-added, 10-ball event that drew the largest crowd. It was the 6th Annual Richard Sweet Memorial Tournament, held, on the weekend of June 25-28, under the auspices of the Tiger Southeast Open 9-Ball Tour. The event, hosted by the Sweet family's Mr. Cues II in Atlanta, GA, drew 225 competitors to the four events; 59 signed on to Friday night's 9-Ball Tournament, 46 were in attendance at Thursday night's 8-ball event, 47 checked in to the 'last hurrah 'second chance tournament on Sunday, while 73 went at it in the marquee 10-ball competition.

 

Richie Richeson, a 22-year-plus veteran of the sport, who, in 1993, shared 17th place at the US Open 9-Ball Championships with the likes of Allen Hopkins and Mike Massey, claimed the 10-ball title. Richeson survived a double elimination finals matchup against Evan Lunda, who'd come from deep on the loss side to challenge him and win the opening set of the finals. 

 

Advancing to a winners' side semifinal, Richeson faced Cliff Joyner, who also finished in that tie for 17th place at the US Open in 1993. Jason Stemen, in the meantime, squared off against Todd Noble. Richeson sent Joyner to the west bracket 7-3, as Stemen was busy surviving a double hill battle over Noble. Richeson claimed the hot heat 7-5 over Stemen and waited on Lunda.

 

On the loss side, Joyner ran into George Spires, recent 7-5 winner over both Horace Godwin and Brandon Davenport. It was Noble who picked up Lunda, 7-4 winner over both Ellis Brown and Kim Heath. Joyner gave up only a single rack to Spires, as Lunda gave up three to Noble.

 

Lunda eliminated Joyner 7-2 in the quarterfinals, and then spoiled Stemen's shot at a re-match against Richeson by defeating him in the semifinals 7-3. Lunda took the opening set of the double elimination finals in a hard-fought double hill battle, but Richeson pulled ahead in the second set to claim the title 7-4.

 

In the Thursday night, race-to-three, 8-ball, single elimination event, Tim Orange downed Mike Clay 3-2 in the finals to claim the $500 first prize. Clay took home the only other ($250) prize available. On Friday night, Tim Heath downed Mike Davis 3-1 in the finals of the single-elimination, race-to-three 9-ball event. Like Orange and Clay, Heath and Davis claimed the $500 and $250 prizes at stake.

 

The weekend concluded with a double-elimination, race-to-four 9-ball event that saw Randy Jordan go undefeated through the field of 47 entrants. Jordan claimed the hot seat over Mike Clay and waited for him to come back. On the loss side, Tim Heath eliminated Ryan Hollingsworth 4-2 in the quarterfinals, only to be shut out by Clay in the semifinals. Jordan completed his undefeated run 4-2 over Clay to claim the Second Chance title.

 

Tour director, Tommy Kennedy, last year's runner-up (to Shawn Putnam) and 9th-place finisher in that 1993 US Open thanked the Sweet family – Ricky, Susan and Mandy – and their staff at Mr. Cues II, as well as title sponsor Tiger Products, J. Pechauer Custom Cues, Simonis, Mueller Recreational Products, Viking Cues, Cue Stix International, Nick Varner Cues, Aramis, Chris Nitti Cues, Andy Gilbert Custom Cues and Paul Frankel with Professor Cue Ball magazine. 

As the owner of Bumper’s Billiards in Birmingham, AL, and the tournament director of the Alabama State 9-Ball Championships, David Rowell has been trying to win his own event for 11 years. He finished second twice; once in 2009, and one other time, the date of which he couldn’t remember. On the weekend of June 30-July 1, he broke through for the first time, winning six in a row on the loss side, and defeating Jonathan Tedder in the finals. The event, exclusively for residents of the state of Alabama, drew 25 entrants to his pool hall. 

Rowell, after an opening round bye, was sent to the loss side by Robert Hall in a double hill match. They would meet again. Hall advanced to the winners’ side final four to face Tedder, as Chris Nation squared off against Brandon Davenport. Tedder sent Hall west 9-5 for a fateful re-match against Rowell, and in the hot seat match, met Nation, who’d sent Davenport west 9-1. Tedder got into the hot seat with a 9-6 victory over Nation.

On the loss-side, Rowell was in the midst of the six-win, loss-side streak that would propel him into the finals against Tedder. With one notch on his belt already, he defeated Bill Smith 9-4, and Greg Summers 9-7, to earn his re-match versus Hall. Davenport drew Joe Cole, who’d been sent west by Tedder from among the winner’s side final eight and defeated Tyson Allen and Lance Ireland, both 9-5.

Rowell exacted his revenge on Hall, in mirror fashion, surviving a double hill match, as Cole downed Davenport 9-4. Rowell then completely shut out Cole in the quarterfinals, and defeated Nation in the semifinals 9-5. Rowell completed his first victory at these Alabama State 9-Ball Championships with a 13-8 victory in the single-race finals.

Rowell couldn’t identify any particular reason that this, his eleventh attempt, was more successful than previous efforts, noting that he had “just started playing real good” on Sunday morning.

“I was breaking good, too,” he said, “and I was running a lot of racks.”