Ron Mason, last seen in a Predator Tour winners' circle back in March of 2012, when he came from the loss to side to chalk up the victory, wound his way through a field of 26 to go undefeated on a Predator Tour Amateur stop on the weekend of September 27-28. The $500-added event drew the 26 to Mr. Cues, in Lindenhurst, NY. A concurrently-run Open/Pro event drew a short field of eight entrants, and was won by Jeremy Sossei.
Mason's win came in spite of being tightly challenged by Roger Lakotko in the hot seat match and then, in the finals, by Jerry Tarantola, who'd won five on the loss side for the right to face him. Mason drew Dan Faraguna in a winners' side semifinal, while Lakotko squared off against John Schott, who'd just sent Tarantola to the losers' bracket. Lakotko defeated Schott 7-3, as Mason was busy downing Faraguna 7-4. Lakotko battled Mason to double hill before giving way and moving to a semifinal match against Tarantola, from which he would not return.
Tarantola began his five-match, loss-side march to the finals with a 7-2 win over Asa Shaw, and then hung on to win a double hill fight over Victor Nau, which set Tarantola up for a re-match against Schott. Kevin Falco, in the meantime, defeated Lionell Swanston 7-4 and Joe Wilson Torres 7-3, to pick up Faraguna.
Tarantola survived his second straight double hill match, successfully wreaking his vengeance on Schott, as Faraguna was busy eliminating Falco 7-3. Tarantola took the quarterfinal match against Faraguna 8-6, and the semifinal match against Lakotko 7-5. Mason, though, was not to be denied. He took the final match 8-5 to claim the Amateur event title.
The Open/Pro event consisted of 14 matches, the first four of which created the winners' side semifinals; Jeremy Sossei defeated Scott Murphy 8-2, Frankie Hernandez downed Tour Director Tony Robles 8-6, Joey Korsiak survived a double hill match versus Warren Kiamco and Hunter Lombardo got by Joe Davis 8-4. Sossei and Lombardo then downed Hernandez and Korsiak, both 8-6, and faced each other in the hot seat match. Lombardo took that, double hill, and sat in the hot seat, awaiting Sossei's return.
On the loss side, Murphy eliminated Robles 8-6 to face Korsiak, as Kiamco defeated Davis 8-2 to pick up Hernandez. It was Hernandez and Korsiak advancing to the quarterfinals; Hernandez 8-5 over Kiamco, and Korsiak over Murphy 8-3. It was Hernandez who advanced to a semifinal re-match against Sossei with an 8-4 win over Korsiak.
Sossei defeated Hernandez 8-4 and then took full advantage of his second opportunity against Lombardo, defeating him 11-8 in the finals to claim the event title.
Tommy Kennedy was ahead 2-1 in a game against Stoney Stone, during the March 1-2 stop on the Tiger Southeast Open 9-Ball Tour, when things went a little south, as they say. Stone made a difficult jump shot and cleared the table to tie things at 2-2. Kennedy never got back to the table, as Stone went on a five-game run to win the match. Stone would advance to the hot seat, but Kennedy would come back, winning seven in a row on the loss side, to meet and defeat Stone in the finals. The $1,000-added event drew 37 entrants to Pockets, in Dothan, AL.
As Kennedy was at work on the loss side, Stone advanced to a winners' side semifinal against Jared Stevens. Denny Singletary and Rick Howard met up in the other one. Stone got by Stevens 9-5 and in the winners' side final, met Singletary, who'd defeated Howard 9-6. Stone got into the hot seat 9-7 over Singletary and waited on TK.
It was Stevens who ran into Kennedy on the loss side. Kennedy had opened his seven-match, loss-side journey with victories over Scotty Townsend, Rob McGlothine, Jesse Middlebrooks and Jim Majors (forfeit), before drawing Stevens. Howard drew Matt Bulfin, who'd defeated Carl Salaski 7-3 and Mike Townsend (son to Scotty) 9-6 to reach him.
Kennedy advanced to the quarterfinals 9-3 over Stevens, where he was met by Bulfin, who'd eliminated Howard 9-6. Kennedy chalked up loss-side wins # 6 and # 7 by defeating Bulfin in the quarterfinals 9-7 and Singletary in the semifinals 9-5.
In his re-match against Stone in the finals, Kennedy reversed his fortunes by keeping Stone seated most of the time. He got out to an early lead, chalked up several break and run racks, held his own in safety play and ended up shutting out Stone out 11-0 to claim the event title.
Hayley Clucks took home $50 as the event's top female finisher. Joe Davis took home the same amount as the top senior finisher, and 14-year-old Trey Austin pocketed $25 as the top junior in the competition.
In his role as tour director, Kennedy thanked his assistants Bo Nelson and Joe Davis, along with Ronald Ready and his Pockets' staff. He also thanked signature sponsor Tiger Products, along with J. Pechauer Custom Cues, Simonis Cloth, Mueller Recreational Products and Andy Gilbert Cues. He also made special mention of sponsor Chris Nitti Custom Cues, noting that his victory in this event was his third straight playing with a Chris Nitti Cue.
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.
