Salt City Billiards in Syracuse NY was our host for stop #4 of the Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour's current 20th season with Danny Hewitt taking top honors in the main event. Hewitt's road to the finals was a relatively easy trip with wins over Dave Johnson 9-1, Rohit Aggarwal 9-2, former NYS Champ Alan Kiehle 9-6, Joe Darigis 9-4, Spencer Auigbelle 9-6 and Hendrik Drost 9-3 for the hot seat. His opponent in the finals, Martin Daigle, had a much tougher task at hand. Having lost a hard fought hill-hill 1st round match to Bucky Souvanthong, things were not looking good. But, that loss seemed to trigger a winning attitude as Daigle proceeded to knock off opponents one by one to the tune of 9 wins in a row for him to reach the finals verses Hewitt. Daigle's victories included wins over Lance Kellogg 9-2, Bruce Carroll 9-1, Dwight Dixon 9-3, Dave Grau 9-3, Joe Darigis 9-4, Ed Saur 9-7, Bruce Nagle 9-8, Spencer Auigbelle 9-3 and Hendrik Drost 9-4.
In the true double elimination format it appeared that Daigle had not lost any steam, winning the first set of the all Canadian finals over Hewitt 9-6. The set was somewhat close early on but hewitt was always slightly behind and seemed to have a little trouble getting his game in gear. The second set however was much different as Hewitt simply dominated Daigle to the tune of 9-2. Hewitt collected $1,000 while Daigle settled for second money of $700 and Drost earned $550 for a great 3rd place finish.
Our $20 entry fee Sunday second chance tourney saw Dave Mills come back from an early loss for the win. That event saw Jason Hall defeat Jerome Rockwell for the hot seat. Mills then beat Rockwell and went on to defeat Hall two sets in the final by scores of 3-2 & 3-2. Mills collected $280 for first, Hall $180 for second and Rockwell $120 for third.
The lucky winner of our $1,500 custom engraved Joss Cue raffle was a local player, Charles Maitland.
We are fast approaching our mid season championship "Turning Stone Classic XXVII 9-Ball Open" on January 5-8, 2017. If you would like to compete in this world class event, I suggest you contact Mike Zuglan immediately to avoid being left out. The event is limited to the first 128 paid entries and Always fills months ahead. If just coming to watch, spectator admission is Free once again. Mike Zuglan can be reached at 518-356-7163.
Main Event results:
1st – Danny Hewitt – $1,000
2nd – Martin Daigle – $700
3rd – Hendrik Drost – $550
4th – Spencer Auigbelle – $400
5/6 – Bruce Nagle & Aaron Greenwood – $300 each
7/8 – Ed Saur & Marco Kam – $200 each
9/12 – Bucky Souvanthong, Joe Darigis, Ron Casanzio & Mark Creamer – $100 each
Second Chance results:
1st – Dave Mills – $280
2nd – Jason Hall – $180
3rd – Jerome Rockwell – $120
4th – Nate Marshall – $80
5/6 – Lance Kellogg & Russ Randall – $40 each
The picture includes Frank Delconte, owner, Martin Daigle 2nd place Dan Hewitt 1st Jennifer Delconte, owners wife
Front Meane Daigle Nichole Delconte (daughters)
Day one of the Turning Stone Classic XXVI is complete, and matches went mostly as expected.
Three time Turning Stone winner Jayson Shaw looked like he might have a challenge on his hands in his first round match with Korean Champion Kang Lee. Lee came out strong and led the match 2-1 early. Eight racks later, Shaw was putting his cue away after another lopsided match win.
Joss Tour regular Willie Oney made his bid for "comeback win of the day", as he trailed Jerome Rockwell 7-2 and 8-5 before coming back to win the match 9-8.
Kevin Guimond was well on his way to notching the tournament's first big upset as he led Rodney Morris through most of their match. Morris did hold a brief lead at 4-2, but Guimond controlled the majority of the match and took the hill at 8-7. Guimond would be unable to close out the match though, and Morris stayed undefeated with the 9-8 win.
The fans were treated to Canadian battle on the TV table as Erik Hjorliefson faced off against Martin Daigle. It was looking good for Hjorliefson, as he led early at 3-0. Daigle would then win nine of the next ten games for a 9-4 win.
The final round of play on Thursday night held multiple tight matches. Shaun Wilkie won a 9-6 battle with Jorge Rodriguez, and Tom D'Alfonso sent Brandon Shuff to the one loss side with the same 9-6 score.
The ladies were well represented on day one with wins scored by Jennifer Barretta, Dawn Fox and Karen Corr. Corr's win was no "gimme" though. She trailed Sean Morgan 5-1, but came back to score a hill-hill win to close out the night.
Barry & Mr. Tiger Baker in conjunction with this year’s U.S. Open will conduct two amateur events during the week. First we will conduct a regional event at Q-Master Billiards and a regional Moose Club event held at the Marriot. This will surely bring more participants, fans, and our sponsors, vendors, and more people having a very good time. Details for both amateur events will be available very soon. The old saying “nothing ventured nothing gained” is so very true.
This year’s event, as most know, is a W.P.A. sanctioned Tier II points event with over $70,000.00 added to the 39th annual U.S. Open. This year for the first time the field will max out at 128 players and by doing so we will be able to conduct the Open in one ballroom using only 9 tables and a floor plan for all to enjoy. Also this cuts the event from 7 full days to 6 days beginning on Monday October 13th and the final day, Saturday October 18th down to the final 4 players remaining.
Over the years I’ve tried many new ideas which have been from very good to not so good but at least, regardless, I’ve never quit since having a full field of 16 players in 1976. We will just have to wait and see how everything goes this year and determine afterwards the plans for next year’s 40th anniversary. What’s most important to us all is to continue having our wonderful sponsors, our loyal fans, our loyal vendors, and players around the globe playing as usual. The players meeting, deadline, and draw will be Sunday October 12th at 4 pm and by 9 pm everyone will know when they play beginning on Monday October 13th at 11 am. By having over two empty ballrooms we will utilize both and Q-Masters open 24/7 from Friday October 10th through Saturday October 18th, 9 days total.
The pro event will fill at 128 players and by saving 64 spots for the W.P.A. ranked players, 32 spots for billiard rooms across the land and 32 additional for anyone who wishes to play as usual. A word to the wise, don’t wait until the last minute to get in or you will be shut out. Again, 128 players will be the max for the year’s event. Players, send in a $250.00 deposit right away to secure your spot and send in the balance of $500.00 by October 6th to avoid a $50.00 late fee or send in the full amount.
Again, title sponsorship is up for the highest bidder as well as our arena sponsor, 2×3 feet advertising panels in the T.V. arena are only $1,000.00 made by Accu-Stats Video Production. There are 4 VIP seating sections, Capone and Jacoby have two. The other two, Q-Masters and the U.S. Open sections, can be changed to your company name by merely giving us one nice cue to raffle off for $1,000.00 all week long with the drawing just before the finals.
I’ve been working very hard at Q-Masters and now, finally, I have the time it takes to get very busy for the Open with two months to go. I’ll be calling many of my sponsors, vendors, and a few new potential industry leaders or feel free to contact me through www.usopen9ballchampionships.com. Roberta has been hard at work on things as well and don’t hesitate on getting VIP tickets, they’ve been selling very well.
P.S. This list of players is not complete thus far as many invitations have been sent to foreign players and billiard room qualifiers are to be determined.
