Eight months ago, with a distinct ‘home field’ advantage playing in his home town of New Bern, NC at Mickey Milligan’s Billiards, JT Ringgold chalked up what was his 13th overall victory on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. It was seven more than his closest competitor in the category, and the last time, in a handicapped tournament, that he would race to 10. On Saturday, June 15, Ringgold returned to Mickey Milligan’s to win his 14th event title on the tour. Unlike the quest for #13, #14 started and stayed on the winners’ side of the bracket. The 13th featured an opening-round loss, seven wins on the loss side (with an aggregate score of 74-16) and a double dip win in the final that saw him win all but three of the 23 matches he played. The 14th title came at the end of four matches, two of them against Justin Clark. The 13th title event drew 18 entrants to Mickey Milligan’s. The $250-added, 14th title event drew 15.

 

Ringgold and Clark met first in a winners’ side semifinal (match #3), as Larry Pierce and Ron Sellers squared off in the other one. Pierce sent Sellers to the loss side in a shutout, as Ringgold took his first of two over Clark 11-4. Ringgold settled into the hot seat after an 11-3 win over Pierce.

 

Sellers and Clark moved to the loss side and entered the matches that would determine whether they had a chance of going home with any cash. Clark did. Sellers didn’t. Clark got into the first-money-round quarterfinals with a 6-3 win over Matt Raden, who’d eliminated Walter Berry and Chris McSorley, both 7-3, to reach him. Danny Farren, who’d defeated Lisa Cossette 7-3 and Robert Perez 7-5, eliminated Sellers 7-1.

 

The next two battles were hotly contested, representing, as they did, a difference of $100 between the quarterfinal and semifinal winners and losers. Clark dropped Farren out of the race, double hill, in the quarterfinal to send him home with $50. Clark then eliminated Danny Pierce, double hill in the semifinals and saw him pocket $150.

 

The financial gap between 1st and 2nd place was $150 ($400/$250) and the battle for it, just as fierce. Clark, granted five on the wire at the beginning of a race to 11, chalked up one more rack against Ringgold than he had in the winners’ side semifinal and forced a 16th deciding game, but Ringgold added a 14th notch to his Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball ‘gun’ with an 11-5 win.

 

Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Mickey Milligan’s, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, 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, scheduled for this weekend (June 22-23), will be a $1,500-added event, hosted by a new venue for the tour – Break and Run Billiards in Chesnee, SC. 

Fresh off his best earnings year, to date (2018), Zac Leonard, who was the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour’s Points Champion last year, opened his 2019 campaign with an undefeated tour victory. Leonard won two stops on the 2018 tour, was runner-up twice, and cashed in eight events. At this most recent $250-added event, held on Saturday, January 19, he advanced, undefeated, to the hot seat and just as dawn was starting to creep up onto the Sunday, January 20th horizon (4 a.m.), he agreed to a split of the top two cash prizes with runner-up Raymond McGinn. The event drew 31 entrants to Mickey Milligan’s in New Bern, NC.

 

Leonard and McGinn met twice in this one; the first time in a winners’ side semifinal and again, when they opted out of playing, in the finals. While Leonard and McGinn were playing their match, Billie Spatafora and Jack Whitfield squared off in the other winners’ side semifinal.

 

Leonard got into the hot seat match with a 7-3 win over McGinn. He was met by Spatafora, who’d defeated Whitfield 5-5 (Whitfield racing to 7). Leonard gave up only a single rack to Spatafora, sending him to the loss side 7-1 in what would prove to be his (Leonard’s) final match.

 

On the loss side, McGinn picked up Jorge Ramos, who’d defeated John McColl 7-4 and Chad Weachter, double hill (7-5) to reach him. Whitfield drew Chris McSorley, who’d eliminated Chris Rhoades 6-4 and Sydney Champion 6-5 (Champion racing to 8). Raymond McGinn got into the quarterfinals with a 6-2 win over Ramos. He was joined by Whitfield, who benefited from a forfeit by McSorley.

 

McGinn downed Whitfield in those quarterfinals and advanced to defeat Spatafora in the semifinals, both by the same 6-2 score. The decision was made to not play a final match, the top two prizes were split and everybody went home.

 

Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Mickey Milligan’s, 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, scheduled for this weekend (Jan. 26-27), will be hosted Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN.

There are a lot of nerve-wracking scenarios in the sport of pool; sitting in the hot seat, waiting for an opponent, who'd like nothing better than to knock you out of that seat, for example, or being in the midst of a lengthy loss-side run, during which every match puts you face to face with elimination. Here's one: you've managed to get yourself into the hot seat for the first time on a tour. You've defeated a tour veteran to get there, and then, a loss-side challenger, other than your hot seat opponent, faces and defeats you in the opening set of a true double elimination final, and you step to the table for a second set with everything on the line.

 

JT Ringold faced just such a scenario during the April 5-6 stop on the Great Southern Billiard Tour, defeating tour veteran Sidney Champion to get into the hot seat, and then, in the second set of a true double elimination final, defeating loss-side challenger Greg Smith to claim his first GSBT title. The $1,000-added event drew 30 entrants to Mickey Milligan's in New Bern, NC.

 

To get into the hot seat match against Champion, Ringold had defeated Paul Swinson 6-1. Champion, in the meantime, had sent Ringold's eventual opponent in the finals, Smith, to the losers' bracket 9-6. Ringold downed Champion 6-5 to complete the first half of the 'nerve-wracking scenario' that would end with him in the winners' circle.

 

Swinson moved to the loss side and picked up Joshua Padron, who'd given up only two racks over his previous two matches, giving up one to Shane Foy and the other to Chris McSorley. Smith drew Josh Heeter, who'd gotten by Younger Chapman 7-2 and Chad Pike 7-4. 

 

Smith survived a double hill fight versus Heeter to advance to the quarterfinals, while Swinson gave Padron a taste of his own 'one-rack' medicine, advancing 5-1 to meet Smith. Smith then downed Swinson 9-4, and took out Champion in the semifinals 9-3. Presumably with a little momentum on his side, Smith took command of the opening set of the finals against Ringold, winning it 9-3. Ringold, though, with his eyes no doubt firmly focused on the prize, took solid command of the second set, winning it 6-3 to successfully negotiate the 'nerve-wracking scenario' and claim his first GSBT title.

 

Tour director Shannon Daulton thanked the ownership and staff at Mickey Milligan's for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Nick Varner Cues & Cases, Delta-13, Ozone Billiards, Tiger Products, Andy Gilbert Custom Cues, Lomax Cues, and Universe Clothing for their continuing support of the tour. The next stop on the GSBT, scheduled for April 12-13, will be hosted by Shore Thing Billiards in Myrtle Beach, SC.

 

Greg Smith returned to the Great Southern Billiard Tour winners' circle with an undefeated run in the tour's first event of 2014. Smith, whose last victory on the tour was in November of 2011 at the same location, had to get by hometown threat, Rick Mosiello (aka Limo), twice to capture the event title. The $1,000-added event drew 37 entrants to Mickey Milligan's Billiards in New Bern, NC.

 

They met first in the hot seat match, once Smith had sent Zach Wilson to the loss side 9-7 and the 70-something Mosiello had dispatched Josh Heeter 5-1. Smith, who'd come from the loss side in his 2011 win on the tour, got into the hot seat this time with a 9-3 win over Mosiello, and waited on his return.

 

Over on the loss side, Nolan Leonard and Chris McSorley were waiting for Wilson and Heeter. Leonard, who'd been sent to the loss side by Smith from among the final 16 winners, had defeated Terri Faulk 7-2 and Wayne Haire 7-3. McSorley had gotten by Gary Hill 7-3 and Adam Bryan 7-6 (It was Bryan that Smith had faced and defeated in the finals of the 2011 event). Leonard and McSorley handed Wilson and Heeter their second straight loss, both double hill, and advanced to meet each other in the quarterfinals.

 

Leonard completed his six-match, loss-side winning streak with a 7-5 win over McSorley, but fell to Mosiello, double hill, in the semifinals. Smith secured the event title by defeating Mosiello a second time in the opening set of the finals 9-4.

 

Shannon and Marge Daulton thanked Gerry Shepherd and his staff at Mickey Milligan's, along with sponsors Nick Varner Cues & Cases, Delta 13 Racks, Andy Gilbert Custom Cues, Tiger Products, Ozone Billiards and Lomax Custom Cues. The next stop on the GSBT is scheduled for January 11-12 at Shore Thing Billiards in Myrtle Beach, SC.

He’s been at it for a few years now, trying to chalk up a win on the Great Southern Billiard Tour; four times this year, in fact, and though he’s finished among the top five in three of his last four outings, the “W” has eluded Billy Thorpe. No longer. On the weekend of June 2-3, at a $1,500-added event at BJ’s Billiards in Havelock, NC, Thorpe worked his way through a field of 42 entrants, including road partner, Alex Olinger (twice) and went undefeated to capture his first GSBT title.

Thorpe and Olinger met first in the battle for the hot seat, once Thorpe had sent Chris McSorley west 9-3 and Olinger had done likewise to Jordan Grubb 11-6. With a two-game advantage, Thorpe got into the hot seat 9-9 over Olinger and waited for his return.

Over on the loss side, Mac Herrell defeated Brian White 9-8, and Larry Faulk 9-6 to pick up Grubb. McSorley drew Nolan Leonard, who’d defeated Jason Lawson 7-3 and Delton Howard 7-2 to reach him. Herrell and Leonard ended Grubb and McSorley’s trip to the loss side quickly; Herrell 9-8 over Grubb and Leonard 7-1 over McSorley. Herrell won the quarterfinal battle that followed 7-3 over Leonard, but ran right into a determined Olinger, who defeated him 11-6 in the semifinals for a second chance against Thorpe.

Both Thorpe and Olinger, who will reportedly travel together and be on hand for the next GSBT stop on June 9-10 at Shore Thing Billiards in Myrtle Beach, SC, entered the finals playing as though they were late for a bus to the beach. Thorpe got out to an early lead and held on to it throughout the length of the match; extended it, in fact, as he took his second match from Olinger 9-3 to chalk up that first win on the GSBT.

Tour directors Shannon and Marge Daulton thanked BJ Billiards in Havelock, NC for their hospitality, particularly Danny Farren and Mike Coleman for their hard work at coordinating the event. The tour, noted the Daultons, will be back “very soon.” The Daultons also thanked sponsors Andy Gilbert Custom Cues, Nick Varner Cues and Cases, Mike Davis Exterminating, Tiger Products and Delta-13 racks.