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Aravena goes undefeated at season opener of the Sunshine State Predator ProAm Tour

Rolando Aravena, Raymond Linares and Kodi Allen

Pool being the kind of game that it is, it’s not uncommon to learn that a relative ‘unknown’ has won a regional tour event. Happens all the time, because an ‘unknown’ may be a ‘known’ in a given area, honing his or her skills at local tournaments and league play. Until this past weekend, the first and only time that Rolando Aravena had his name appear in our AZBilliards database was in September 2019, when he and Justin McNulty split a third-place prize in a Scotch Doubles event on the Sunshine State ProAm Tour. This past weekend (Feb. 4-5), Aravena signed on to the Sunshine State Predator ProAm Tour’s 2023 season opener in a field that included (among others) his Scotch Doubles partner McNulty, Raymond Linares, Anthony Meglino, Donny Mills, Mike Delawder, Jason Richko, Bobby Garza and former US Open 9-Ball Champion, Tommy Kennedy. Aravena went undefeated at the $1,500-added event that drew 50 entrants to Stroker’s Billiards in Palm Harbor, FL.

Brackets being what they are, Aravena didn’t have to play all of the ‘knowns’ that signed on, but he did face a few of them along the way. He got by Justin Logan, Casey Grove and Jimmy Garza before running into Anthony Meglino in a winners’ side quarterfinal. Designated for tour purposes as a ‘pro,’ Meglino had to give Aravena two games in a race to 8. They battled to double hill before Aravena prevailed to face his former Scotch Doubles partner, McNulty, in one of the winners’ side semifinals. McNulty forfeited the match and Aravena leapfrogged into the hot seat match. In the meantime, former junior competitor Kodi Allen (now 20) had his own list of well-known competitors to contend with. He sent Dan Marchini, William Shafer and Bobby Garza to the loss side, before facing the eventual runner-up, Raymond Linares in the other winners’ side semifinal and defeating him 7-3 to meet Aravena. Aravena claimed the hot seat 8-4 over Allen and waited for what turned out to be the return of Linares.

On the loss side, Linares ran into Meglino, who’d followed his loss to Aravena with victories over Derrick Santos 8-3 and Casey Grove 8-2. Lee Heuwagen, who’d lost his opening-round match to Tommy Kennedy 8-3 (who was then downed by Donny Mills 8-5), was working on a six-match, loss-side winning streak. Along the way, he’d eliminated Jason Richko 8-4, Bobby Garza 8-5 and Donny Mills 6-3 before benefiting from Jason McNulty’s earlier forfeit and leapfrogging into the quarterfinals. He was joined by Linares, who’d survived a somewhat predictable double hill battle versus Meglino. 

Linares ended Heuwagen’s loss-side streak 6-5 (Heuwagen racing to 7) and then defeated Allen in the semifinal 7-2. With a single “bead on the wire” that he didn’t need, Aravena downed Linares 10-5 to claim title to the Sunshine State Predator ProAm Tour’s season opener. 

Tour directors Janene Phillips and Bobby Garza thanked Jose Del Rio and his Stroker’s staff for their ongoing hospitality and support of the tour, as well as title sponsor Predator Cues, Kamui, Central Florida USA Pool League, Stitch It To Me Embroidery, AZ Billiards, Jamison Daniels, Dr. Billiards and Dr. V’s Custom Shop. The next stop on the Sunshine State Predator ProAm Tour is to be announced.

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Meglino and Kennedy split top prizes on Stroker’s Masters Classic

Tommy Kennedy, Anthony Meglino and Raymond Linares

It was all of that.

Labeled as a “Masters Classic,” the August 20-21 stop on the Florida Pool Tour featured (among others) Anthony Meglino, Tommy Kennedy, Ray Linares, Mike Delawder and 28 other pool Masters. It concluded with Meglino, Kennedy and Linares finishing 1, 2 & 3, although when the hour hand on the clock was in the vicinity of 5 a.m. on Sunday morning, Meglino and Kennedy opted out of a final and split the top two prizes. As the undefeated occupant of the hot seat at the time, Meglino claimed the $1,500-added event title, which had drawn its (capped-at) 32 entrants to Stroker’s in Palm Harbor, FL.

In effect, the hot seat match between Meglino and Kennedy became the championship match. As it turned out, Meglino’s ‘toughest’ opponent (based on racks against him) was Kim Dyer, who faced him in a winners’ side quarterfinal. Meglino had opened with a 7-2 win over Dave Stern and followed that up with a victory over Tim Barron 7-4, before meeting up with Dyer, who scored five racks against him. Meglino advanced to draw the 14-year-old ‘phenom’ Konnor McFadyen in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Kennedy, in the meantime, downed Stroker’s owner, Jose Del Rio 7-4 and Linares 7-2 to draw Jimmy Garza in the other winners’ side semifinal.

Meglino downed McFadyen 7-3 and was joined in what turned out to be that championship hot seat match by Kennedy, who’d sent Garza to the loss side 7-5. Meglino claimed the hot seat 7-4 over Kennedy.

The ‘kid’ McFadyen drew Linares, who’d followed his loss to Kennedy with wins over Mike Delawder 7-3 and Jamison Daniels 7-2. Garza picked up Lee Heuwagen, who’d lost to McFadyen 7-5 in the other winners’ side quarterfinal and then eliminated Del Rio and Michael Xiarhos, both 7-5.

Saturday was slipping into Sunday as Linares finished McFayden’s day+ with a shutout. Garza joined him in the quarterfinals after ending Heuwagen’s day+ 7-4. Linares and Garza locked up in a double-hill semifinal fight that did eventually give Kennedy the chance for a rematch against Meglino, waiting for him in the hot seat.

Didn’t happen. Dawn was coming at the time and the two Florida vets were done, literally and figuratively. They split the top cash and headed home.

Tour representatives thanked Del Rio and his Stroker’s staff as well as sponsors Aramith Balls, Outsville, Simonis Cloth, Salotto Pro, DigitalPool, FargoRate, Crosby’s Billiards and Darts Supply, Straight Shooter Gear, propatchlab.com and XLPress Co. The next stop on the Florida Pool Tour, scheduled for the weekend of Nov. 5-6, will be the $A1,500-added Capone’s Winter Classic Championship, hosted by Capone’s in Spring Hill, FL.

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Garza Brothers Win 3rd Annual Billiard Factory Pool Tournaments

George Saunders, Will Schoonmaker, Erica Gordon, Erik Decious, Amanda Brisson, Bobby & Jimmy Garza

The Billiard Factory hosted its third annual pool festival at its Jacksonville, Florida store. Four events took place which included the Andy Cloth Mixed Doubles 9-Ball Open, the Billiard Factory Junior 8-Ball Open,  the Pure X Cues 10-Ball Amateur Open and the Kamui Free Pro Clinic with Charlie Williams. The big story was about two local Jacksonville brothers named Jimmy Garza and Bobby Garza who split up in events and both won their respective divisions. There was a little something for everyone that came. The Billiard Factory events were all produced by Dragon Promotions.

 

The events drew over 50 players from Georgia and Florida as well as numerous fans who came just to watch and enjoy the fresh grilled barbecue. Players competed from the ages of 7 years old up to 70. In the Andy Cloth Mixed Doubles 9-Ball, early favorites included the teams of Rachel Manning (last year's runner-up) & Asher Le, Shanelle Loraine & George Saunders, and Bobby Garza and Amanda Brisson. Manning and Le made an early upset against Loraine & Saunders but later were in turn upset by Erica Gordon and Will Schoonmaker in the semi-finals. But in the end, Brisson & Garza defeated Gordon & Schoonmaker 4-2 for the title. 
 
In the Pure X Open 10-Ball, 30 players narrowed down to the clash between the event's two best players. George Saunders of Orlando was the early favorite, but Jacksonville's Jimmy Garza had been on a hot streak in the Southeast winning back to back amateur events. Garza took a loss against Saunders in his first match, but came all the way back to meet him in the finals. Saunders had escaped a thrilling hill hill match with Scott Rohleder, but Garza came out strong and in a high quality match, he came out with a 5-3 win over Saunders for the title. 
 
“ We've been keeping an eye on our Billiard Factory location in Florida, and we are really excited to see the fan interest grow. Pro-active events create more loyalty, which is essential to building any business. Our managing partner Erik Decious has been with Billiard Factory for 17 years and his enthusiasm for the billiard industry is something we can all use today," says Tony Stick, Vice-President of Billiard Factory which has 12 locations throughout the nation. Billiard Factory is the largest billiard retail store in the United States.
 
"The events this year were an even bigger success than last year. And we have something special planned with Dragon Promotions this October to commemorate the 18th anniversary of our Florida Billiard Factory location", said Erik Decious, Managing Partner for Billiard Factory.

Kennedy wins Open, Singletary wins Amateur event on SE Open 9-Ball Tour

Tommy Kennedy

Tommy Kennedy came from the loss side of an Open event on his own Southeast Open 9-Ball Tour on Saturday, April 14, and defeated hot seat occupant, Denny Singletary, in the finals. Singletary would go on, the next day, to win the tour stop’s Amateur event. The $1,000-added events ($500 each), hosted by Zingale’s Billiards in Tallahassee, FL drew 25 (Open) and 19 (Amateur) entrants.

While the Open event featured Kennedy’s return from the loss side to win, the Amateur event featured some headline matchups, outside the realm of its top winners. First among these was a 5th/6th place match between room owner Mike Zingale and his father, Jim. The other story was about 11-year-old Landon Harris, who, though finishing in the four-way tie for 9th, turned a few heads with back-to-back, double hill victories against much older opponents (Brandon Posey and Dylan Clark).

The seeds for the Zingale family match in the Amateur event were sown among the winners’ side final four, when son, Mike, was sent west by Singletary 6-3. J.R. Rossman, in the meantime, who had been eliminated by Kennedy in the Open event the day before, faced and defeated Huyen (pronounced “win”) Cam 6-1. In the hot seat match, Singletary and Rossman battled to double hill before Rossman prevailed to deny Singletary his second hot seat occupancy of the weekend.

Cam moved to the loss side and picked up Joe Davis, while Mike Zingale ran into his father, Jim. Davis defeated Cam 5-2, and the younger Zingale defeated the elder Zingale by the same score. Davis then dropped the younger Zingale into fourth place in a double hill match, only to be dropped himself into third place by Singletary, whose 5-1 victory put him into the finals for the second time. He won it this time, defeating Rossman 9-4 to capture the Amateur title.

It was a set of three, 7-5 victories among the final four winners that left Singletary in the hot seat in the Open event on Saturday. Kennedy was sent west by Jimmy Garza, Singletary sent Stoney Stone over, and finally, in the hot seat battle, Singletary sent Garza to the semifinals.

Kennedy moved over and picked up Rossman, while Stone drew Arthur Hynh. Kennedy and Stone picked up where they’d left off, defeating Rossman 6-2 and Hynh 6-4, and turning to face each other in the quarterfinals. Kennedy finished Stone’s day 6-4, and then in a ‘vengeance is sweet’ moment completely shut out the man who’d sent him to the loss side (Garza) in the semifinals. He completed his three-match, loss-side winning streak with a 9-6 win in the finals that secured the event title.

Ashleigh Harrel picked up $50 as the top female finisher in the Open event, and John Amiss picked up $50, as well, as the oldest player in the event. The elder Zingale won a $50 prize for being the oldest player in the Amateur event. Two women – Tracie Majors and Jessica Fincher – split a $50 prize as top finishers in the Amateur tourney, while 11-year-old Landon Harris picked up $25 as the top finishing junior.

Tour director Tommy Kennedy thanked Mike Zingale and his staff for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Tiger Products, Mueller Recreational Products, David Adams, Ed Cabrera, Simonis Cloth, Cliff Manning of Manning Custom Cues, Andy Gilbert Custom Cues, and Harris Cue Company. 

Open Event Payouts | Amateur Event Payouts