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Hixon takes two out of three vs. Hollingsworth to begin his best earnings year at the tables

Kirk Hixon

With his first recorded regional tour win this past weekend (Feb. 4-5), Kirk Hixon launched what is already his best recorded earnings year, surpassing his previous-best (2021), when he got as close as runner-up (to Josh Heeter in April) on the PremierBilliards.com Q City 9-Ball Tour and finished 9th at the 2020 Tour Championships. Hixon went undefeated to the hot seat and lost the opening set of a true double elimination final versus Cameron Hollingsworth, but won the second set to claim the title at a $500-added event that drew 54 entrants to Action Billiards in Inman, SC.

Hixon and Hollingsworth advanced through the field to arrive at their winners’ side semifinal matches. Hixon faced Casey Looper, while Hollingsworth battled Josh Miller.

Hixon got into the hot seat match following a shutout over Looper. Hollingsworth joined him after downing Miller 6-3. In their first of three, Hixon claimed the hot seat over Hollingsworth 6-2.

On the loss side, Miller picked up Sammy Epps, who’d defeated Daniel Adams, double hill and Joe Bryant 5-2 to reach him. Looper drew Chad Dill, who’d leapfrogged over a Chris Cody forfeit and eliminated Dustin Brown 5-3. Miller advanced to the quarterfinals, double hill over Epps and was joined by Dill, who’d sent Looper home 5-3.

Miller and Dill locked up in a double hill fight in those quarterfinals. It was Miller who advanced to take on Hollingsworth in the semifinals. Hollingsworth gave up only a single rack to Miller and advanced to his double elimination rematch against Hixon.

In what tour director Herman Parker described as a pair of “great matches, the result determined by a few rolls, here and there,” Hollingsworth took the opening set 6-4. In the second set, Hixon came back, by the same score, to win the set and in effect, the event title. 

Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Action Billiards, as well as title sponsor PremierBilliards.com, Breaktime Billiards (Winston-Salem, NC), BarPoolTables.net, Dirty South Grind Apparel Co., Realty One Group Results, Diamond Brat, AZBilliards.com, Federal Savings Bank Mortgage Division and TKO Custom Cues. The next stop on the PremierBilliards.com Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend (Feb. 11-12), will be a $250-added event, hosted by Bernie’s Billiards in Cary, NC.

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Hollingsworth chalks up sixth win on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour

Landon Hollingsworth

Still just practicing.

As this appears on the page, Junior competitor Landon Hollingsworth is either on his way or at Pat Fleming’s International Open in Norfolk, VA to compete in the 18 & Under Boys’ championship event of the 2022 Junior International Championship (JIC) series. As a warm-up to the event this past weekend (Sat., Oct. 29), he travelled to Columbia, SC to compete in a stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour at Overtime Billiards. He went undefeated through the $500-added event that drew 33 entrants and marked his sixth victory on the tour since 2020. It’s his second tour victory of this year (he won the last stop on the tour a month ago), to go along with finishing first in the JIC’s ProAm Division (which earned him a paid entry to Puerto Rico’s 10-Ball Open later this month), the Dynaspheres Cup’s Junior 9-Ball event (20 & Under) and a third place finish in Shane Van Boening’s Junior Open, held in conjunction with Matchroom Sport’s US Open last month.

The clearest sign of his progress since he first came on the scene is not just the visible improvement of his skills. On the Q City 9-Ball Tour (and elsewhere), his ranking, based on the number of games he has to win to complete a match has steadily increased.

“Four years ago,” noted Q City 9-Ball Tour director Herman Parker, “he came into our events as a ‘5.’ He’s a ‘10’ now.”

Hollingsworth and Hunter White (himself, a recently-former junior competitor, also a ‘10’ now) battled twice for this event title; hot seat and finals. Hollingsworth won them both.

They advanced through the field from opposite ends of the bracket with Hollingsworth facing Jason Blackwell in one winners’ side semifinal and White squaring off against Jesse Draper in the other. Hollingsworth fought a double hill battle before advancing to the hot seat match against Jason Blackwell. Hunter gave up only a single rack to Draper. Hollingsworth then gave White a taste of his own ‘winners’ side semifinal’ medicine, allowing him only a single rack to claim the hot seat.

On the loss side, in the first money round, Blackwell picked up Calvin Lee, who’d recently defeated Will Hammer and Josh Miller, both 6-4, which, versus Miller, was double hill. Draper drew Phil Stalls, who’d eliminated Stevie McClinton and Matt Lucas, both 6-3.

Draper advanced with a double hill win over Stalls. Blackwell did not, falling to Lee 6-3. Lee then defeated Draper 6-4 in the quarterfinals.

Lee almost made the semifinals ‘double hill’ interesting, but fell a game short, as Hunter White won 10-4 (Lee racing to 6). The likelihood of White falling to Hollingsworth a second time with only a single rack to show for it was slim. As had happened in the semifinals, the final match came within a game of double hill. Hollingsworth, though, completing what could only be described as good practice for this coming week on his schedule, completed his undefeated run through the field with a 10-8 victory for his sixth Q City 9-Ball Tour win.

Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Overtime Billiards for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Breaktime Billiards (Winston-Salem, NC), BarPoolTables.net, Dirty South Grind Apparel Co., Realty One Group Results, Diamond Brat, AZBilliards.com, Ridge Back Rails, and Federal Savings Bank Mortgage Division. The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend (Nov. 5-6) will be hosted by Janet Atwell’s Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN.

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Lumston goes undefeated on Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour to win his first event

Matt Lumston

To the best of our knowledge, Matt Lumston’s undefeated victory on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour this past weekend (Aug. 27-28) was his first tour victory anywhere. It will, as he enters the AZBilliards database, be the last time that will be said of his ongoing career at the tables. Runner-up Josh Miller entered the database for the first time two and half years ago, when he finished 9th at Q City 9-Ball stop in Spartansburg, SC and later that year (July), finished 4th at a tour stop in Bristol, TN at Janet Atwell’s Borderline Billiards. Borderline Billiards hosted this most recent, $250-added stop, which drew 27 entrants.

This was not some one-off ‘luck of the day kind of thing,’ where an unknown works his way through a mediocre field or, by bracket draw, manages to bypass competition against much stronger opponents. Lumston and Miller both had to contend with Cory Morphew, who’s in the middle of his best earnings year to date, in a career that dates back (as far as we know) to 2011. He finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd on the Q City 9-Ball Tour, this year alone. Lumston took him down 7-3 in the first round and Miller fought him to double hill before leaving him in the 3rd place dust. Lumston also defeated one of the country’s top-ranked junior competitors, Landon Hollingsworth (#2 in the 2022 season rankings of the Junior International Championships’ 18U and ProAm divisions). Were it not for Cory Morphew’s work in the event quarterfinals, Miller would have had to face him in the semifinals.

Lumston met up with Hollingsworth in one of this event’s winners’ side semifinals, while Miller squared off against Reid Vance (yet another Q City 9-Ball veteran with a win on this tour in 2020). Lumston sent Hollingsworth to the loss side 7-5 and was joined in the hot seat match Miller, who’d battled to double hill before sending Vance over to the loss-side 5th/6th matches. Lumston took command and claimed his first hot seat 7-2 over Miller.

In a pair of loss-side, tour-veteran battles, Hollingsworth drew room owner, Janet Atwell, while Vance picked up Morphew. Atwell had recently eliminated Donnie Lester 7-1 and Scott Howard 7-4 to reach Hollingsworth. Morphew, working on a seven-match, loss side winning streak, had chalked up wins #4 and #5 against Ricky Bingham 9-4 and James Brown 9-3.

Morphew and Hollingsworth advanced to the first money round, the quarterfinals; Morphew 9-4 over Vance and Hollingsworth 9-1 over Atwell. Morphew and Hollingsworth battled to double hill in those quarterfinals before Morphew finished his seventh and what proved to be his last match win of the day (as the Saturday was becoming an early Sunday).

A second double-hill battle was waged for a ticket to the finals. Josh Miller began the semifinals with four ‘beads on the wire’ in a race to 9. He chalked up the five he needed before Morphew was able to record the nine he needed and advanced for a second shot against Lumston, waiting for him in the hot seat.

The final match was threatening to beat dawn on Sunday morning. Lumston, though, got out in front and claimed his first event title, 7-3 over Miller and beat dawn to the finish line at around 4 a.m.

Tour director Herman Parker thanked Janet Atwell and her Borderline Billiards staff for their hospitality, along with title sponsor Viking Cues, Breaktime Billiards (Winston-Salem, NC), BarPoolTables.net, Dirty South Grind Apparel Co., Realty One Group Results, Diamond Brat, AZBilliards.com, Ridge Back Rails, and Federal Savings Bank Mortgage Division. The Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour will bring a $500-added event to Breaktime Billiards in Winston-Salem, NC on this Labor Day weekend (Sept. 3-4).

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Ussery, Manley split top prizes at 1st Annual Brian James Memorial Tournament in Bristol, TN

(l to r): Brian James and TD Herman Parker

If and when the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour holds its annual Tour Championship in September, it will once again honor one of its tour members with a Sportsmanship Award. The award will go to a player chosen by members of the tour. This year and in the years to come, that award will bear the name and honor the memory of Brian James of Rosedale, West Virginia, a long-time member of the tour, who passed away on June 3, following a prolonged battle with pancreatic cancer. James, a close friend of tour directors Herman and Angela Parker, had fulfilled a long-time dream earlier this year, when he competed at the annual Derby City Classic in January, finishing in a four-way tie for 5th place in the 9-Ball Mini Tournament. James was to have competed on the Q City 9-Ball Tour this past April, but the tour was halted due to the pandemic well ahead of his scheduled participation. By the time the tour was able to get back to the work of pool competition, James was no longer able to compete.

On the weekend of January 11-12 at Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN (where James enjoyed playing the most), the tour held a fundraising tournament, attended by James, to help defray the costs of his ongoing health care. Through the raffling of cues, balls and an assortment of other products from keychains to clothing, the event raised $3,300. Six months later, this past weekend (June 13-14), the tour went back to Borderline Billiards and drew 74 entrants to a celebration of life tournament. BJ Ussery and Sammy Manley ended up splitting the top two prizes of the commemorative event that drew 74 entrants.

“Brian’s daughters, Nina and Jesse, came to the tournament,” said Herman Parker, “and had a very emotional meeting with the players, thanking everybody.”

“He was the most genuine person,” said Parker of his friend. “There was just never any drama with him, which is why the Sportsmanship Award will be named in his honor. He was a good family man and always courteous when it came to the game. He was one of those guys; a 100% gentleman.”

And, as he most assuredly would have wanted, the tournament began.

The winner and runner-up at this event never competed. Though Ussery would go undefeated to the hot seat, Sammy Manley, who defeated Jeff Abernathy in the opening round of play, but lost to Scott Roberts in the second round, won nine matches on the loss side for the right to face Ussery in the final match that didn’t happen.

Ussery advanced to a winners’ side semifinal against junior player Landon Hollingsworth. Jordan Gray, in the meantime, squared off against Daniel “Papa John” Adams in the other one.

Ussery earned his spot in the hot seat match with a 12-3 win over Hollingsworth (racing to 6). Gray downed Adams 6-4. In what would prove to be his final victory, Ussery claimed the hot seat 12-3; like Hollingsworth, Gray was racing to 6.

With four wins of his nine on the loss side behind him, Manley defeated Travis Guerra 5-1 and Jody Musselman 5-4 (Musselman racing to 6) to draw “Papa John” coming over from his loss in the winners’ side semifinal. Hollingsworth drew Hank Powell, who’d defeated Josh Miller 7-1 and Dalton Messer 7-4 to reach him.

Manley downed “Papa John” 5-2 and was joined in the quarterfinals by Powell, who eliminated Hollingsworth 7-3. Manley then sent Powell to the figurative showers 5-3 in those quarterfinals.

In his 9th victory on the loss side and 10th, overall, Manley defeated Jordan Gray 5-2 in the semifinals. He and Ussery agreed to split the event’s top two cash prizes and the 1st Annual Brian James Memorial Tournament at Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN was in the books. According to the Parkers, future events in James’ name will be held around the time of his passing each year.

The Parkers thanked Janet Atwell and her Borderline Billiards staff, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Bar Pool Tables, Delta 13 Racks, AZBilliards, Tickler Pool Ball Washing Machine, Skyline Construction, Federal Savings Bank Mortgage Division and Dirty South Grind Apparel Co. The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend (June 20-21), will be hosted by Randolph’s Billiards in Hickory, NC and feature two separate events. On Saturday, June 20th, the tour will mount its normal handicap event, which will, dependent on the number of entrants, conclude on Saturday night. On Sunday, June 21, the tour will hold an Open event (no handicaps), featuring races to 6.

Shabib goes undefeated to take Borderline Billiards stop on Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour

Raed Shabib

Like criminals to a crime scene, pool players love returning to the sites of previous triumphs. It could be a home room, near to their actual home, or just a place where, for whatever reason, the balls were rolling well on a given day. On the weekend of July 13-14, Raed Shabib returned to Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN, where he’d won the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour Championships last December. He went undefeated through a field of 39 entrants this time and got by Brian Bagwell twice to claim the event title.
 
They met first in the hot seat match. Shabib had defeated Ron Frank 9-6 in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Bagwell, in the meantime, accepted a forfeit from his son, Josh Miller, in the other winners’ side semifinal and advanced to the hot seat match against Shabib. Shabib defeated Bagwell the first time 9-5.
 
On the loss side, Frank picked up Gary South, who’d defeated Mark Hurst 7-3 and John Pallaria 7-4 to reach him. Miller, looking to work his way back to a possible finals rematch against his Dad, drew Jeff Abernathy, who arrived having just given up only three racks in 21 games (Abernathy racing to 9); two to Ryan Fossum and only one to Doug Schulz.
 
South downed Frank 7-3, whiLe Miller was busy chalking up more racks against Abernathy than his previous two opponents combined. With Abernathy again racing to 9, Miller advanced to the quarterfinals 5-6.
 
South ended any hopes for a father-son final by defeating Miller 7-2 in the quarterfinals. Bagwell then put an end to South’s run 7-3 for a second shot against Shabib in the hot seat. Shabib completed his undefeated run with a second victory over Bagwell; this time 9-4.
 
Herman and Angela Parker thanked Janet Atwell and her Borderline Billiards staff, 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 (July 20-21), will be hosted by the Gate City Billiards Club in Greensboro, NC.

White is official winner of $2K-added, 114-entrant, stop on Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour

Brian White

There was good news and bad news for tour directors Herman and Angela Parker last weekend. The scheduled stop on their Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour (Feb. 9-10) drew a hefty 114 entrants to Steakhorse Restaurant & Billiards in Spartanburg, SC, due, in part, to an ongoing four-day, $56K, 8-Ball battle between Justin Bergman and Corey Deuel at the same location. It was originally to have been a battle between Bergman and Jayson Shaw, but some (shall we say) differences of opinion emerged regarding the table particulars of that matchup and at the last minute, Deuel stepped in and agreed to play the match against Bergman; a best-of five sets, racing to 30, with Deuel getting three on the wire for each set. It’s not often that the Parkers get to play host to that many players, but when it became known that entrants to his tournament would be granted free admission to watch the challenge match, the numbers swelled. And predictably, with a lot of Pro types racing to 11, 12 and 13 games, their tournament went on a little longer than their normal weekend tournaments; like, 7 a.m. Monday morning longer.
 
Deuel won the challenge match 3-1, and it spilled over into Monday evening. A couple of the sets were close; close enough to question whether giving Deuel three on the wire in those circumstances was such a good idea for Bergman.
 
Brian White, who is the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour’s current Bar Box Champion (from an event held last September) and winner of another stop on the tour, two days before Christmas, was declared the official winner of the tour stop when, at 7 a.m. Monday morning, he and Steakhorse Restaurant and Billiards house pro, Roberto Gomez agreed to a split of the top two prizes. White was the hot seat occupant at the time. Gomez had spent a lot of time on the loss side, winning nine matches to get to the finals that didn’t happen.
 
There were several players of some renown who didn’t make it to the money rounds of the handicapped tournament. Francisco Bustamante and Tony Chohan were among them. White advanced through the field to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal match against Keith Yates. Francisco Felicilda, in the meantime, squared off against teenager Landon Hollinsworth.
 
White got into the hot seat match with an 11-3 win over Yates. Felicilda, also racing to 11, gave up only a single rack to Hollinsworth and joined White. White claimed the hot seat 11-9, in what proved to be his last match.
 
Gomez, in the meantime, after an early-round loss to Josh Miller was at work on the loss side, racing to 13 through it all. He got into the money rounds with a 13-3 victory over Kevin Ping (racing to 6), chalked up his sixth loss-side win against Junior Gabriel 13-1 and picked up the youngster, Hollinsworth, coming over from the winners’ side semifinal. Yates drew Raymund Faraon, who’d eliminated two members of the Frank family, back to back; Trey Frank, double hill (12-5) in the first money round and then, Trey’s father Ron, double hill (12-7) to meet Yates.
 
Faraon went on to win his third straight double hill match (12-4) over Yates. He was joined in the quarterfinals by Gomez, who’d eliminated Hollinsworth 13-2. Playing with one on the wire at the start in a race to 13 in those quarterfinals, Faraon had chalked up only five, when Gomez won his 13th and advanced to the semifinals.
 
Felicilda started the semifinal match against Gomez with two on the wire in a race to 13. He managed to get to 8, before Gomez finished it, about 10 minutes after daylight started painting the Spartanburg sky and 15 minutes ahead of the official sunrise at 7:16 a.m.
 
The decision to split the top two prizes was made, everyone settled up and tour directors Herman and Angela Parker went back to their hotel to catch a few hours sleep before they had to check out shortly after noon.
 
The Parkers thanked Steakhorse Restaurant and Billiards’ owner, Dayne Miller for his hospitality (to include added money) and his entire staff for what had to have been a hectic weekend. They also thanked 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. 16-17), will be hosted by Gate City Billiards in Greensboro, NC.