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.
With his third victory on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour on the weekend of October 26-27, Hunter White made 2019 his best earnings year, to date. That best year had been 2016, when he also won three events on the tour, to go along with five other appearances in which he cashed that year. He’s exceeded those earnings this year with the three wins and cash finishes in three other events. White picked the tour’s 2019 Tour Championships (on 9-foot tables; a separate Bar Box Tour Championship will be held next month) to chalk up his third win of the year and had to come from the loss side to do it. The $1,000-added event drew 56 entrants to Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN.
White advanced to a winners’ side semifinal against Chad Harrison, as Jason Evans and Jeff Abernathy squared off in the other one. Harrison downed White, double hill (6-7), as Evans was sending Abernathy over 10-7 (Abernathy racing to 9). Harrison claimed the hot seat 6-7 and waited on the return of White.
White and Abernathy picked up a pair of “Matts” on the loss side. White drew Matt Lucas, who’d recently defeated Edwin Delacueva, double hill (5-6) and junior player Landon Hollinsworth 5-3. Abernathy picked up Matt Harrell, who’d eliminated Brian Francis 6-2 and Kris Brower 6-3.
The “Matts” went down, so to speak. White defeated Lucas 8-3 and was joined in the subsequent quarterfinals by Abernathy, who put the second “Matt” (Harrell) down 9-1. White then defeated Abernathy 8-6 and in the semifinal, Jason Evans 8-5.
White didn’t want a repeat of his double hill loss in the winners’ side semifinal and was taking no chances in the true double elimination final rematch. He took the opening set 8-2 and then did it again, winning the second set 8-2 to claim the 2019 Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour Championships.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked Janet Atwell and her Borderline Billiards staff 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, scheduled for this weekend (Nov. 2-3), will be hosted by Shore Thing Billiards in Myrtle Beach, SC.
Earlier this year, in February, we reported on a victory for Jason Evans on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, which, in a career that’s spanned almost 20 years, was his first recorded victory in a major event. His best recorded earnings year (2002) came as the result of placing 3rd at a stop on the Joss Tour, 17th at the IBC Championships and three cash finishes at that year’s Derby City Classic. He has a way to go before he can match his earnings from that year, but on Saturday, October 5, he chalked up his second win* on the 2019 Q City 9-Ball Tour. He went undefeated at the event, but split the top two prizes when he and junior competitor Joey Tate, whom he’d defeated, double hill in the hot seat match, opted out of a final match. The $1,000-added event drew 39 entrants to The Clubhouse in Lynchburg, VA.
Evans advanced to a winners’ side semifinal against Blade Best, while Tate squared off against Brent Hensley. Evans got into the hot seat match with a 9-4 victory over Best, as Tate was locked up in a straight-up race to 7, double hill fight against Hensley. Tate won it and then, in what proved to be the event finals, a second straight double hill match, fell to Evans 9-6 (Tate racing to 7).
Woodrum fell to Best 6-3, as Ailstock was busy downing Hensley 6-5 (Hensley racing to 7). Ailstock defeated Best 6-4 in the quarterfinals that followed, and with the notion of a rematch against Evans in the finals, squared off against Tate in the semifinals.
Tate, though, stopped Ailstock’s four-match, loss-side run with a 7-4 win in those semifinals. He and Evans opted out of the final, awarding the undefeated Evans the event title.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at The Clubhouse, 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 (October 12-13), will be hosted by Gate City Billiards Club in Greensboro, NC.
Mike Davis had won three straight North Carolina State 8-Ball Open titles and arrived in Hickory, NC on the weekend of September 14-15 to chalk up his fourth. His path to the event victory went off-course early as he was sent to the loss side in the event’s second round. He would win seven matches on the loss side, but in the end, it was BJ Ussery, completing an undefeated run, who would unseat him from his 8-Ball Open throne and wear the crown for the first time. The $500-added event drew 28 entrants to Randolph’s Billiards in Hickory.
Davis was defeated in the second round by Jason Evans, who followed him to the loss side later. In the meantime, Ussery and Shannon Fitch advanced to winners’ side semifinals versus Mike Bumgarner and Justin Martin, respectively.
Fitch and Martin locked up in a double hill fight that eventually sent Martin to the loss side. Ussery punctuated his advance to the hot seat match with a shutout over Bumgarner. He then downed Fitch 7-4 to claim the hot seat and wait for the event’s defending champion to finish his loss-side run.
After chalking up his first two loss-side wins, Davis eliminated Chuck Ritchie 6-4 and survived a double hill fight against Daniel Gambill to draw Martin in the first money round. Bumgarner picked up Jason Evans, who’d shut out Travis Worden and then, in spite of being down 5-0 to Hank Powell, came back to defeat him 6-5 and face Bumgarner.
Davis and Evans advanced to their quarterfinal rematch; Evans over Bumgarner 6-2 and Davis over Martin 6-4. As Ussery had punctuated his advance to the hot seat match, Davis punctuated his advance to the semifinals with a rematch shutout over Evans. He then earned the right to defend his 8-Ball Open title with a 6-3 over Fitch in those semifinals.
The final match was a straight race to 9. Ussery won it 9-7 to claim his first NC State 8-Ball Open title.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Randolph’s Billiards 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, scheduled for this weekend (September 21-22) will be a $500-added ($1,000-added with 64 entrants) event, hosted by Break & Run Billiards in Chesnee, SC.
Former junior competitor Hunter White is a single tour stop victory away from making 2019 his best earnings year to date. His previous best earnings year, 2016, featured three wins on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. On the weekend of August 24-25, White chalked up his second win on the 2019 tour, backing up his win two weeks ago, when he came back from a loss in the hot seat to Billy Fowler and double-dipped him in the finals. At this most recent event, White and Fowler met in a winners’ side semifinal, but not again. Instead, Junior Gabriel, defeated in the third round of play, won seven on the loss side to challenge White in the finals; Gabriel took the opening set of the true double elimination final, but White came back to win the second and claim the title. The $1,000-added event drew 60 entrants to Break and Run Billiards in Chesnee, SC.
As noted, White and Fowler met for the first time since the weekend of August 10-11, squaring off in this event’s winners’ side semifinals. Mike Parkins, in the meantime, faced Rob Hart in the other one.
Parkins advanced to the hot seat match 5-5 (Hart racing to 7), while White downed Fowler 8-4. White then gave up just a single rack to Parkins and claimed the hot seat.
With Hart racing to 7, Gabriel advanced to the quarterfinals over him 5-5. He was joined by Fowler, who’d defeated Abernathy 8-5. Gabriel spoiled Fowler’s hopes for a finals re-match against White with a 5-3 win over him in those quarterfinals.
By the same score, 5-3, Gabriel completed his loss-side run, downing Parkins in the semifinals and then, with White racing to 8 in the opening set of the finals, Gabriel took that opening set 5-5. Hunter came back to win the second set 8-2 to cap his birthday celebration with an event title.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Break and Run Billiards, 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 (August 31-Sept. 1), will be hosted by Speakeazy Billiards in Sandford, NC.
In its first visit to Shore Thing Billiards in Myrtle Beach, SC, the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour drew 54 entrants for a $500-added stop on the weekend of August 10-11. Billy Fowler worked his way through the field to claim the hot seat over former junior player Hunter White, but White came back from the semifinals to double dip Fowler in the finals and claim the event title.
Fowler had defeated Marty Free 8-2 to get into the hot seat match, as White was at work downing Zach Collins 8-4 to join him. Fowler claimed the hot seat over White 8-6 and waited on his return.
Vallario downed Free 6-6 (Free racing to 8) and was joined in the quarterfinals by Collins, who’d defeated Hall 6-5 (Hall racing to 7). Collins took the quarterfinal match over Vallario 6-2 to earn himself a rematch against White in the semifinals.
White, though, duplicated his effort against Collins in the winners’ side semifinal with an 8-4 win in the event semifinal. White and Fowler battled to double hill in the opening set of the true double elimination final. White took that opening set and then downed Fowler a second time 8-4 to claim the event title.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Shore Thing Billiards 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, scheduled for this weekend (August 17-18), will be hosted by Shotmaker’s in Garner, NC.
Though Tickle and Potts may sound like characters in a Disney movie, they are, in fact, two veterans of the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. David Tickle, who was runner-up to Jason Evans at a stop in February, has been away from the tables for a while; his best recorded earnings year being 2015, when he won two stops on the tour and finished 4th and 5th in two others. While still looking for his first win on the tour, Jason Potts did finish 4th in the 2018 Tour Championships and was runner-up to Taz Holliday in the tour’s 2017 Bar Box Championships.
Though scheduled to meet twice, they met only once during the May 4-5 stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, which drew 40 entrants to Gate City Billiards Club in Greensboro, NC. They both advanced to the winners’ side semifinals, where Tickle met and defeated Michael Wyatt 9-2, and Potts sent Alex Valencia to the loss side 7-3. In what proved to be the one and only match between the two, Tickle claimed the hot seat 9-4.
On the loss side, Wyatt and Valencia landed in the first money round of the event. Valencia picked up Brian Overman, who’d defeated Daniel Jones 7-3 and Brian Francis 7-5 to reach him. Of particular interest to Tickle watching from the hot seat was Wyatt’s first opponent on the loss side, Jeff Abernathy, who’d been sent to the loss side by Tickle in the third round and was in the midst of a six-match, loss-side winning streak. He’d most recently defeated Tim Nelson 9-2 and Jason Evans 9-7.
Abernathy leap-frogged into the quarterfinals when Wyatt was unable to show up for his Sunday match. He was joined by Valencia, who’d eliminated Overman 6-3.
Abernathy gave up only a single rack to Valencia in those quarterfinals and was a single match away from a re-match against Tickle in the hot seat. With Abernathy racing to 9, though, Potts put up a fight and won the semifinal match 7-7. Potts and Tickle opted out of the final, leaving Tickle, as hot seat occupant, the official winner.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Gate City Billiards Club, 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 (May 11-12), will be a $1,000-added event, hosted by Steakhorse Restaurant & Billiards in Spartanburg, SC.
It was a busy weekend in Roanoke, VA. The Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball paid a visit to a new venue on their schedule – Wolf’s Den Billiards in Roanoke, owned by the Wolford family. In what brings a new degree of clarity to the phrase ‘home room,’ Shane Wolford won two out of the three events held over the weekend of March 9-10; the 53-entrant, handicapped Amateur event and a 10-entrant Open event. He was runner-up in the 17-entrant One Pocket event, which was held in the same location, but not specifically run by the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour.
The venue hadn’t just opened its doors when the tournament got underway. It was still plugging in the lights. According to tour director Herman Parker, when he arrived at the location on Saturday morning to begin registering players, the lights over the tables he was going to be using hadn’t even been hung. The situation was rectified by the time the registration process had been concluded and tournament play commenced.
In fact, Shane Wolford actually won only one of the three events, as defined by playing in an event final and winning that final match. He and Derek Leonard ended up splitting the top two payouts in the Amateur event, because when it came time for the finals of that event, Wolford was playing in the hot seat of the Open event, which he went on to win.
Former two-time junior champion Zach Hampton (14 and under, 2012/18 and under 2013) won the One Pocket tournament, downing fellow junior player Wolford 3-0 in the finals, both collecting the only cash prizes; $1050 for Hampton and $525 for Wolford. Wolford added $200 more for his actual victory in the Open event, downing James Blackburn 7-5 in the final (Wolford had defeated Blackburn earlier, double hill, in the hot seat match).
In the Amateur event, which played out over the two days of the pool room’s opening weekend, Wolford advanced to a winners’ side semifinal against Ron Frank, as Derek Leonard faced Matt Siple. Leonard sent Siple to the loss side 9-3 and turned to face Wolford, who defeated Frank 9-4. Wolford claimed the hot seat 9-6 over Leonard in what proved to be Wolford’s last match of the Amateur event.
On the loss side, Siple drew Jason Evans, a recent winner on the tour (Feb.), who’d just eliminated two straight competitors, double hill – Graham Swinson and Trevor Stanley. Frank picked up Jonathan Caldwell, who, like Evans, had eliminated two straight opponents in double hill matches; Frank King and Jonathan Ailstock.
Siple and Frank ended Evans’ and Caldwell’s two-match, double hill winning streak and advanced to the quarterfinals; Siple 7-5 over Evans and Frank 9-3 over Caldwell. Siple ended Frank’s run 7-4 in those quarterfinals.
Leonard took the last match of the event, the semifinals, 9-5 over Siple and agreed with Wolford to split the top two prizes, while Wolford continued his winning run on the Open event.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the Wolford family and their Wolf’s Den Billiards' staff 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, scheduled for this weekend (March 16-17), will be hosted by Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN.
Jason Evans (entrant #172 in our database of nearly 20,000 pool players) had been bringing home cash from pool tournaments for almost 20 years, but according to our records (containing information only on events reported to us), had yet to win a major tournament. Until this past weekend, February 16-17, when he went undefeated through a field of 41 on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. Evans and David Tickle battled twice in this event, hosted by Gate City Billiards Club in Greensboro, NC. Both matches, for the hot seat and finals, in straight-up races to 9, went double hill.
Their first meetup followed Tickle’s defeat of Shaun Apple 9-2 in one of the winners’ side semifinals and Evans’ 9-1 victory over Brad Smith in the other one. Evans took the first of his two double hill wins over Tickle and claimed (again, according to available records) his first hot seat.
On the loss side, Apple picked up Jerry Stone, who’d defeated Scott Johnson 6-5 (Johnson racing to 7) and Michael Moore 6-4. Smith drew Gate City Billiards Club owner, Don Liebes, who’d recently defeated Harry Florence, double hill, and Geoff Grayson 6-3.
Apple and Smith advanced to the quarterfinals; Apple 5-4 over Stone (racing to 6) and Smith, by shutout, over Liebes. Smith gave up only a single rack to Apple to take the quarterfinal match 6-1.
Tickle gave up only two to Smith in the semifinals to earn his rematch against Evans in the finals. A second double hill match ensued, with the same result. Evans claimed his first major title.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked Don Liebes and his Gate City Billiards Club staff 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, scheduled for this weekend (Feb. 23-24), will be dedicated to the memory of tour veteran Chris Walsh, who passed away recently. The event is expected to be the first Chris Walsh Memorial of many to come. The event will be hosted by Walsh’s home room, Randolph Billiards in Hickory, NC, where he won a stop on the tour in February 2017. Money will be raised at this event in support of Walsh’s family.
It was the second week in a row that Zac Leonard found himself in the hot seat at a stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour and came to an agreement with his finals opponent to not play a last match. As the undefeated competitor, Leonard claimed the official event title both times. It was the second time that he’d reached such an agreement with BJ Ussery, although when he reached the agreement in August, it was the undefeated Ussery who claimed the official event title. On Saturday, Sept. 22, the two met in the hot seat match and let the result – a win for Leonard – stand. The event, originally scheduled to be played at Corner Pockets in Fayetteville, changed its venue to Speakeazy Billiards in Sanford, NC, but still suffered from a bit of post-Hurricane-Florence syndrome and drew a short field of 22 entrants.
Leonard and Ussery advanced through the field to face opponents in the two winners’ side semifinals; Leonard meeting Q City 9-Ball veteran JT Ringgold and Ussery squaring off against Bill Ethridge. Leonard downed Ringgold 7-3, as Ussery sent Ethridge to the loss side 11-4. In their only match, with Ussery racing to 11, Leonard claimed the hot seat 7-6.
On the loss side, Ringgold picked up Jason Evans, who’d shut out Nick Mauldin and defeated Billie Spatafora 9-3 to reach him. Ethridge drew Chad Weachter, who’d defeated Don Lilly 5-1 and Travis Guerra 5-3 (Lilly entered the event as the tour’s # 1-ranked player and left as #2, behind Leonard).
Ringgold advanced to the quarterfinals with a double hill 10-8 win over Evans, and was met by Weachter, who’d eliminated Ethridge 5-2. With Ringgold racing to 10, Weachter took the quarterfinal match 5-4.
Ussery stopped Weachter’s loss-side run 11-3 in the semifinals. He and Leonard opted out of the final match, leaving the undefeated Leonard as the official event winner.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Speakeazy Billiards for their change-of-venue, last-minute 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, scheduled for this weekend (Sept. 29-30), will be the tour’s 2018 Bar Box Tournament Championships, open to invited members of the tour. The $2,000-added event will be hosted by Steakhorse Restaurant & Billiards in Spartanburg, SC.
