The two competitors who squared off in the finals of the Saturday, April 23 stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour – Dalton Messer and Kelly Piercy – have never (to our knowledge) cashed on any other tour. Messer chalked up his first and until this weekend, only win on the tour in the week between Christmas and New Year’s, 2018. Piercy’s tour efforts came close to a victory in 2020, when he won nine on the loss side and in the finals, challenged junior competitor Landon Hollingsworth, who completed an undefeated run to claim that title. Though Messer downed Piercy in the hot seat on Saturday, the two of them opted out of a final match and split the top two prizes, leaving Messer, in the hot seat, as the official winner. The $500-added event drew 26 entrants to Break & Run Billiards in Chesnee, SC.
Their first and only meetup followed Messer and Piercy’s advance through the field, arriving at winner’s side semifinal matches versus Thomas Sansone (for Messer) and Reid Vance (for Piercy). Messer downed Sanson 6-3, as Piercy sent Vance to the loss side 6-5 (Vance racing to 8). Messer claimed the hot seat 6-4 in what proved to be the title-claiming match.
Vance and Sansone arrived on the loss side of the double-elimination bracket, looking to advance just one match to compete in the event’s first money round. They didn’t make it. Stevie McClinton, who’d recently eliminated Kirk Hixon 7-5 and Billy Fowler 7-6 (Fowler racing to 10), added Sansone to that list, downing him 7-4 to advance to the quarterfinals. Vance drew Runal Bhat, who’d just defeated Jose Irizarry 7-3 and Casey Looper, double hill, and then defeated Vance 7-4 to join McClinton in the quarterfinals.
McClinton and Bhat almost made it to double hill in those quarterfinals, but McClinton edged out in front at the end, winning 7-5 for a shot at Piercy in the semifinals. Piercy put a stop to McClinton 6-2 in those semifinals, before negotiating the financial split with Messer and calling it a night.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Break & Run Billiards, 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 (April 30-May 1), will be a $500-added event, hosted by Sonny’s Billiards in Princeton, WV.
Just over two weeks ago (March 19-20), Billy Fowler and Josh Heeter faced off in the finals of the first-ever West Virginia State 9-Ball Championships, held under the auspices of the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. Fowler won it 9-5 to chalk up his 8th recorded win on the tour, dating back to 2016. They’d met twice in the event; once in a winners’ side semifinal, won by Heeter and again, in the final, won by Fowler.
This past weekend (April 9-10), they met in an event final on the tour again. They met only once this time, though Fowler returned from the same relative position on the loss side as he had in West Virginia to challenge him. They reversed finish positions, with Heeter going undefeated this time to claim the title. The $500-added event drew 63 entrants to The Rock House in Gastonia, NC.
As had happened in West Virginia, they both emerged victorious from their respective winners’ side quarterfinal matches, but not to face each other in the winners’ side semifinals. Heeter squared off against Barry Mashburn, while Fowler faced Kelly Piercy.
Piercy sent Fowler to the loss side 6-5 (Fowler racing to 10) and in the hot seat match, faced Heeter, who’d defeated Mashburn 9-3. Once again, Heeter claimed the hot seat, this time sending Piercy to the loss side 9-4.
On the loss side, Fowler picked up junior competitor Cole Lewis, who’d recently eliminated Michael Carter and Dayne Miller, both 8-3. Mashburn drew Zach Martin, who’d defeated Jesse Draper, double hill, and Thomas Sansone 5-3 to reach him.
Martin downed Mashburn 5-4 (Mashburn racing to 9) and in the quarterfinals, was to face Fowler, who’d fought a double hill battle against Lewis, before prevailing 10-7. Fowler jumped over the quarterfinals when Martin couldn’t return on Sunday and forfeited the match.
Fowler took care of the last obstacle in his path to a second straight final against Heeter, Kelly Piercy 10-4 in the semifinals. Unlike the open (no handicap) event in West Virginia, in which Fowler, coming from the loss side, won just a single, extended, race-to-9 final match, he’d have to win twice to claim the handicapped event title in North Carolina. Heeter began with a single ‘bead on the wire’ in a race to 10. They battled to double hill, before Heeter prevailed 9-9 to claim the title.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at The Rock House, 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 16-17), will be hosted by Breaktime Billiards in Winston-Salem, NC.
The two finalists in the August 15-16 stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour – Landon Hollingsworth and Kelly Piercy – were both looking to chalk up their first victory on the tour. Together, they’d cashed in a total of 13 events on the tour, dating back to November, 2018. Hollingsworth logged the majority of those cash finishes, by a lot; 12-1, in fact, including his official runner-up finish to Hank Powell at a stop this past 4th of July weekend in Bristol, TN. He and Powell opted out of playing a final match and Powell was awarded the official win. Piercy, on the other hand, was looking for only his second cash finish on the tour, to supplement his 5th place finish just ahead of Christmas last year.
Hollingsworth, playing in his first final, ended up going undefeated, but not before Piercy threw a bit of a scare into him by winning nine on the loss side to challenge him in that final. The $1,000-added event drew 40 entrants to Pal’s Billiards in Piedmont, SC.
Hollingsworth, recently elevated to a ‘7’ handicap, came into the event as the tour’s 2020 points leader, and cemented that position with his victory. With Piercy already long at work on the loss side, having lost to junior competitor Joey Tate in the second round, Hollingsworth advanced to a winners’ side semifinal match against Hunter Zayas (also recently elevated, to a ‘6’). Joe Bryant and Tony Wall clashed in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Hollingsworth advanced to his second-ever hot seat match with a 7-4 victory over Zayas. Bryant joined him after sending Wall to the loss side 5-2. Hollingsworth claimed his first hot seat 7-4 over Bryant, then waited and watched, as Piercy completed his nine-match, loss-side winning streak.
It was Wall who ran into Piercy, six matches into that loss-side streak, which had recently included a forfeit victory over Justin Martin and a second win over Joey Tate 5-4 (Tate racing to 7). Zayas drew Kevin Ping, who’d just eliminated Junior Gabriel 7-4 and Robert Otto 7-5.
In the first money round, Piercy and Zayas advanced to the quarterfinals; Piercy, 5-2 over Wall and Zayas, 6-3 over Ping. Piercy then chalked up two straight double hill wins; against Zayas in those quarterfinals and then, in a straight-up race to 5, Bryant in the semifinals.
Two relatively new competitors looking for their first major win is not a situation likely to create an agreed-upon split of the top two prizes. And it didn’t here. Hollingsworth punctuated his undefeated run by allowing Piercy only a single rack in the final and claiming his first title.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Pal’s, 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 (Aug. 22-23), will be hosted by Jac’s Billiards in Newport, TN.
Five days before the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour got back to the business of pool tournaments, the governor of South Carolina, Henry McMaster, gave restaurants in the state the ‘green light’ to open up at 50% capacity. A day later (May 12), he signed an Executive Order extending South Carolina’s specific State of Emergency for 15 days, while noting that as of that day, the state had identified 7,927 cases of COVID-19, to include 355 deaths. According to Tour Director Herman Parker, that occupancy percentage was adhered to during the tour’s two-day stay at Break & Run Billiards in Chesnee, SC, where, this past weekend (May 16-17), Roland Garcia and Justin Martin split the top prizes at the $500-added event that drew 52 entrants. Parker estimated that total occupancy at any given time during the two-day event was about 80 people and that while no one was utilizing masks, an informal social distance protocol was able to be maintained.
Garcia and Martin opted to split the event’s top two prizes shortly after Martin won the first set of a true double elimination final on Sunday evening, thereby evening their match results at that point to 1-1. Garcia was declared the official winner of the event.
They’d met first in a winners’ side semifinal, as Justin Duncan and Landon Hollingsworth met in the other one. Garcia sent Martin to the loss side 12-4 (Martin racing to 10). Duncan dispatched Hollingsworth to the left bracket 6-4, and then, followed him over when Garcia downed him 6-4 to claim the hot seat.
On the loss side, Martin began his trek back to the finals against Sammy Manley, who’d defeated Clint Clark 5-6 (Clark racing to 8) and Billy Fowler 5-7 (Fowler, racing to 9). Hollingsworth picked up Hunter White, who’d lost his opening match to Romy Malonzo, and then embarked on an eight-match, loss-side winning streak that had most recently included victories over Jacob Brooks 9-4 and Kelly Piercy 9-2.
The four of them played 22 games for the right to advance to the quarterfinals. Manley and Hollingsworth won only three of those 22; Manley chalking up two against Martin and Hollingsworth managing only one against White.
Martin ended White’s eight-game winning streak 10-6 in those quarterfinals and then, spoiled Duncan’s hopes for a re-match against Garcia with a 10-4 victory over him. With that ever-intangible, though never underestimated ‘loss-side momentum,’ Martin battled Garcia to double hill in the opening set of the true double elimination final and then won it, to force a second set.
They didn’t play it. They opted to split the top two prizes and allow Garcia to claim the official event title.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Break & Run Billiards, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Bar Pool Tables, Delta 13 Racks, AZBilliards, and Tickler Pool Ball Washing Machine. The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour is being planned. Visit the tour’s Facebook page for specific information on the date and time.
At his only other event victory on the 2019 Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour (May 11-12), Billy Fowler faced Brian Bagwell three times, taking two out of the three to capture the event title. At the annual Tour Championships, the season finale of the tour’s 2019 season on the weekend of December 21-22, Fowler and Bagwell repeated that scene, with a minor alteration or two. In May, it was Fowler who grabbed the hot seat, and though Bagwell took the opening set of the true double elimination final, Fowler took the second set and claimed that title. On this most recent, just-before-Christmas weekend, it was Bagwell who claimed the hot seat, with Fowler winning his two, back to back, in the true double elimination final to grab the Tour Championship title. The $1,000-added event drew 63 entrants to Break and Run Billiards in Chesnee, SC.
They’d both gotten by their individual opponents in the winners’ side semifinals; Fowler 9-2 over Gary South and Bagwell over Ricky Baughman 7-4. Bagwell took the first of their three 7-6 (Fowler racing to 9) to claim the hot seat.
On the loss side, Baughman and South got right back into things with victories over their first opponents. Baughman faced Kelly Piercy, who’d been defeated by the tour’s Point Standings leader, BJ Ussery, in the opening round of play and then mounted a nine-match, loss-side winning streak that had most recently included victories over Tyler Mayfield 5-4 (Mayfield racing to 6) and a successful rematch against Ussery, which he won 5-8 (Ussery racing to 11). South drew Anthony Mabe, who’d eliminated Landon Hollingsworth 7-3 and Joe Upchurch 7-4.
Boughman ended Piercy’s nine-match streak 7-3 and in the quarterfinals, faced South who’d ended Mabe’s 2019 tour season 7-5. Baughman inched a match closer to a potential shot at the finals with a double hill win over South in those quarterfinals.
Fowler put an end to Baughman’s thoughts of a spot in the finals. Fowler, as anxious as Boughman to face Bagwell, got his second shot at Bagwell with a 9-2 win in the semifinals.
Fowler took the opening set of the double elimination final 9-3. Bagwell chalked up two more racks in the second set, but Fowler chalked up his nine to claim the Tour Championship title.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Break and Run Billiards, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Bar Pool Tables, Delta 13 Racks, AZ Billiards and Professor Q-Ball. The season opener of the 2020 Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour will be held on the weekend of January 4-5 at a site to be determined.
The two competitors who squared off in the finals of the Saturday, April 23 stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour – Dalton Messer and Kelly Piercy – have never (to our knowledge) cashed on any other tour. Messer chalked up his first and until this weekend, only win on the tour in the week between Christmas and New Year’s, 2018. Piercy’s tour efforts came close to a victory in 2020, when he won nine on the loss side and in the finals, challenged junior competitor Landon Hollingsworth, who completed an undefeated run to claim that title. Though Messer downed Piercy in the hot seat on Saturday, the two of them opted out of a final match and split the top two prizes, leaving Messer, in the hot seat, as the official winner. The $500-added event drew 26 entrants to Break & Run Billiards in Chesnee, SC.
