They drove to the event together, so Corey Morphew and Adam Pendley didn’t spend a lot of time negotiating their split of the top two prizes at the end of this past weekend’s (Sat., July 16) stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. As occupant of the hot seat at the time, Morphew claimed title to the Open event that drew a “slow summer” field of 17 entrants to Sonny’s Billiards in Princeton, WV.
“It was actually a pretty strong field for its size,” noted tour director Herman Parker, “with about a half dozen competitors that have combined for about 25 or so wins on the tour over the years.”
Morphew and Pendley allowed their winners’ side semifinal match to stand as the definitive, though not actual title match. Morphew had advanced to face Pendley, as Jonathan Ailstock met with Keith Young in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Morphew won the first, and as it turned out, only meeting between he and Pendley, downing him double hill. Ailstock, in the meantime, sent Young to the loss side 7-3. Morphew and Ailstock locked up in a double hill match, too. Morphew claimed the hot seat in what proved to be his last match of the event.
On the loss side, Pendley picked up Jason Potts, who’d defeated Allie Tilley (the only woman to play in the Open event) 6-3 and Ron Frank 6-2 to reach him. Young drew Sonny’s Billiards owner John Brockman, who’d recently survived two straight, double hill matches against Josh Ball and Dwain Barberie.
Brockman got involved in his third straight double hill match, but it was his last, as Young advanced to the quarterfinals. Pendley joined him after defeating Potts 6-4.
In the first money round, Pendley downed Young 6-4 and then, earned a second shot against Morphew by defeating Ailstock in the semifinals 6-3. Pendley didn’t take that second shot as he and Morphew agreed to the ‘two prize’ split and packed up to head home, leaving Morphew, occupant of the hot seat, as the event’s official winner.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked Brockman and his Sonny’s Billiards staff for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, 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, July 23-24, will be a $250-added (with 24 entrants) event, hosted by Still Cluckin’ in Providence, NC.
In what proved to be his best recorded earnings year at the tables (2021), Mike Gann won a stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour and finished as runner-up to Daniel Autrey in another, both at the same location; Peyton’s Place in Knoxville, TN. He shifted his Tennessee location to Hummy’s Bar (formerly, JAC’s All-American) in Newport, TN this past weekend (Sat., March 26) to chalk up a second win on the tour, taking two out of three versus Adam Pendley to claim the title. The $250-added event drew 31 entrants to Hummy’s Bar.
Gann and Pendley both had to deal with venue owner, Brady Brazell, before facing each other in the finals. Gann picked Brazell up in a winners’ side semifinal, while Pendley was battling another room owner, Josh Newman of West End Billiards in Gastonia, NC, in the other one.
Pendley sent Newman to the loss side 9-7 and was joined in the hot seat match by Gann, who’d defeated Brazell 10-4. Gann and Pendley battled to double hill, before Gann prevailed (10-8) to claim the hot seat.
Brazell and Stiltner locked up in a double hill fight that eventually sent Brazell to the quarterfinals. He was joined by Newman, who’d downed Messer 10-4.
Brazell took the room owner vs. room owner quarterfinals 7-5, and then, it was Adam Pendley’s turn to face him in the semifinals. Pendley ended Brazell’s run 9-3 for a necessary double shot at Gann in the hot seat.
With Gann racing to 10, Pendley took the opening set of the true double elimination final 9-4. In the early hours of Sunday, they repeated the five-point differential in the second set, but it was Gann who came out on top 10-5 to clinch the event title.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked Brady Brazell and his Hummy’s Bar staff for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, BarPoolTables.net, Break Time Billiards of Winston-Salem, NC, 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 (April 2-3), will be a $500-added event, hosted by the League Room in Parkersburg, WV.
Daniel Adams, known far and wide as Papa John, came to Princeton, WV last weekend (Sat., Jan. 29, six hours of Sun., Jan. 30) and in a pair of battles versus junior competitor (until July) Cole Lewis, claimed the title to a stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. The $500-added event drew 43 entrants to Sonny’s Billiards in Princeton.
Adams and Lewis advanced through the field, headed for the hot seat and arrived at the winners’ side semifinals. Papa John faced Scott Largen while Lewis squared off against Sean McGrady.
Adams sent Largen to the loss side 6-3, as Lewis was busy doing likewise to McGrady 8-3. Adams claimed the hot seat 6-6 (Lewis racing to 8) and waited on his return.
On the loss side, Largen picked up Corey Morphew, who’d just completed two, wildly divergent matches to reach him. After surviving a double hill battle versus Ricky Bingham (9-5), Morphew shut Derek Bonds out 9-0. McGrady drew Mike Clevinger, who’d eliminated Hank Powell 7-6 (Powell racing to 8) and Robert McCoy, double hill.
Morphew and Clevinger kept Largen and McGrady’s visit to the loss side short, very short. Morphew downed Largen 9-2, as Clevinger eliminated McGrady 7-4. Both competitors in the quarterfinals that followed had been sent to the loss side by the same man, Keith Young, who’d defeated Clevinger in the 2nd round (first match for Clevinger) and Morphew in the third round. Young eliminated the possibility of a rematch against either of them by losing to Robert McCoy in the 9/12 matches.
Clevinger was ahead in the loss-side match wins (7-5) when the quarterfinals began. Morphew ended Clevinger’s loss-side winning streak 9-5 and then had his own streak of six loss-side wins stopped by Lewis 8-5 in the semifinals.
As dawn was working its way toward the eastern horizon, Papa John and junior competitor Cole Lewis locked up in a double hill fight that concluded, according to tour director Herman Parker, at around 6 a.m. on Sunday morning. Adams won his six racks in the only set of the true double elimination final necessary before Lewis had chalked up his eight. Adams claimed his first Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour title since he’d come from deep on the loss side to win an event at The Clubhouse in Lynchburg, VA almost five years ago (April, 2017).
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Sonny’s Billiards for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, BarPoolTables.net, Dirty South Grind Apparel Co., Realty One Group Results, Diamond Brat, AZBilliards.com, and Federal Savings Bank Mortgage Division.
The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend (Feb. 5-6) will be the $1,500-added, 1st Annual Winter Classic, to be hosted by Break Time Billiards and Sports Bar in Winston-Salem. In addition to a $1,000-added Open event, there will be a $500-added Ladies event.
It is the first in a series of seasonal Open events that Parker is adding to the tour’s 2022 schedule. Parker will duplicate the seasonal Open events at dates (to be determined) in the spring, summer and fall.
“We’ve been doing only three or four Open events per year,” said Parker, “but we’re looking to expand that to between 12-15 per year.”
“In addition to the seasonal classics,” he added, “they’ll include events like the Ron Park Memorial, the West Virginia state and North Carolina State championships.”
Stay tuned for further information as it becomes available regarding the upcoming Open events on the tour.
Winner Hank Powell came looking for his second win on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. Runner-up Ryan Fossum came in search of his first. Powell went undefeated at the December 7-8 event that drew 41 entrants to Janet Atwell’s room, Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN. Fossum settled for runner-up and his first cash win on the tour.
They battle twice in the event; hot seat and finals. Powell advancing to the match after a double hill (7-5) win over Keith Young, and Fossum joining him after sending Rick Chitwood to the loss side 5-1. Powell claimed the hot seat 6-3 and waited in it for Fossum to return from the semifinals.
On the loss side, Chitwood picked up Chris Stump, who’d eliminated Anthony Mabe, double hill, and Robert Hall 5-1 to reach him. Young drew Jackson Hurst, a 16-year-old junior player, who’d been defeated in the event’s second round by room owner Janet Atwell and launched a seven-match, loss-side winning streak to the quarterfinals. He’d recently eliminated Mike Kirby 5-3 and Bobby Jack Conner 5-6 (Conner racing to 8).
Hurst got into those quarterfinals with a 5-4 win over Young (Young racing to 6). He was joined by Chitwood, who’d defeated Stump, double hill.
Chitwood then ended Hurst’s loss-side streak 6-3 in those quarterfinals, before himself being eliminated by Fossum, double hill (5-5) in the semifinals.
In the opening and what proved to be only double-elimination set necessary, Fossum was able to muster a couple more racks against Powell than he had in their hot seat match, but they weren’t enough. Powell took the opening set 7-4 to claim the event title.
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 December 14-15, will be a $1,000-added event, hosted by the newly-renovated Clubhouse in Lynchburg, VA.
Jeff Abernathy’s been chalking up wins at regional tours and nation-wide majors for almost 20 years now. He’s a regular at the annual Derby City Classic, cashed in three US Open 9-Ball Championships and been a thorn in the side of competitors all over the United States map. He won the Super Billiards Expo’s Amateur Championship in 2013, was runner-up in the APA National Amateur Championships in 2014, was runner-up to Mike Davis in the 2017 NC State 9-Ball Championships and 4th in that event last year. But like most pool careers, his bears the stamp of that age-old pool-related question, often asked by potential financial supporters: What have you done for me lately?
On the weekend of March 16-17, at a stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, the answer to that question was: won seven on the loss side and double-dipped the hot seat occupant (Stevie McClinton) to add another title to a growing list. The event drew 51 entrants to Janet Atwell’s Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN.
Abernathy got sent to the loss side by Keith Young in the event’s third round to embark on his loss-side trip. It was a loss he’d avenge later, on his way to the event title. Young advanced to the winners’ side semifinal against McClinton, as Matt Shaw and Trevor Stanley squared off in the other one. McClinton sent Young to his re-match against Abernathy with a 7-2 win. Shaw joined him in the hot seat match with a 7-3 win over Stanley. McClinton chalked up his last win 7-5 over Shaw to claim the hot seat.
On the loss side, Young walked into his re-match against Abernathy immediately. Abernathy, four matches into his seven-match winning streak, had recently defeated Ron Frank 9-3, and, moving into the money rounds, Dustin Booth 8-3. Stanley drew Hank Powell (winner of a stop on the tour two weeks ago), who’d picked up a forfeit win over Robert Ingold and eliminated Ricky Bingham 7-1.
Abernathy downed Young 9-2 and in the quarterfinals, faced Stanley, who’d defeated Powell, double hill (6-6). Abernathy defeated Stanley in those quarterfinals and earned his shot at McClinton in the hot seat by defeating Shaw, both 9-3.
With McClinton racing to 7, Abernathy took the opening set of the true double elimination final 9-5. He bore down a touch or two harder in the second set, winning that one 9-3 and claiming the event title.
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 (March 23-24) will be another two-event weekend at another new venue for the tour. On Saturday, March 23, Rack ‘N Grill II in Augusta, GA, will host a $500-added handicapped tournament. On Sunday, March 24, they’ll play host as well to a $250-added Open tournament (both 9-ball).
