Following a series of third place finishes, earlier this year, including the Derby City Classic's 9-Ball Banks event, Alex Olinger must have figured it was time to move up. On the weekend of June 11-12, he joined 63 competitors in Wichita, KS for the Midwest 9-Ball Tour's $2,600-added, 12th Annual Bobby Wells Memorial, hosted by Side Pockets in Wichita. After winning five on the loss side, Olinger double dipped hot seat occupant, Marshal Roney, to claim the title.
In a concurrently-run, $400-added Ladies event that drew 11 entrants, Tama Collins went undefeated to claim that title. Collins had narrowly defeated Taelor Parish in the hot seat match, double hill. On the loss side, Paula Goulden downed Debra Jennings 7-5 in the quarterfinals to face Parish in the semifinals. Goulden defeated Parish 7-2, and then, in the finals, fell to Collins in a single set 7-4.
In the Open event, Olinger was sent to the loss side in a winners' side quarterfinal by Sean King. King advanced to meet Terry Young in a winners' side semifinal, as Roney faced Cody Myers. Roney survived a double hill battle versus Myers, and in the hot seat match, met King, who'd sent Young over 9-5. Roney claimed the hot seat 9-4 and waited for Olinger to complete his five-match march on the loss side.
It was Myers who had the misfortune of picking up Olinger, three matches in to his loss-side run. Olinger had eliminatEd Scott Brown 9-1 and David Matlock 9-6. Young drew Manny Perez, who'd defeated Jason Sisler and Ken Jennings, both 9-4, to reach him.
Olinger moved into the quarterfinals after defeating Myers 9-4. Perez joined him with a 9-6 win over Young. Olinger's 9-7 win over Perez in those quarterfinals gave him a second chance against King, and he took full advantage. He defeated King 9-5 and moved into a double elimination final against Roney.
Olinger took the opening set 9-4. He repeated that score in the second set to claim the 12th Annual Bobby Wells Memorial title.
Melissa Little went undefeated to win the Ladies portion of the 2nd Annual Summer Heat 9-Ball Classic, held under the auspices of the Midwest 9-Ball Tour and hosted by Jamaica Joe's in Midwest City, OK. Sean King gave up the first set of the double elimination finals, but came back to win the second and claim the Open title. The $2,000-added Open event drew 45 entrants, while the $500-added Ladies event drew 12.
King faced Chip Compton three times; the first, in a winners' side semifinal, as Mark Haddad and Richard Pierce squared off in the other. King sent Compton west in the first of their three 9-7, and in the hot seat match, met Pierce, who'd sent Haddad over by the same score. King and Pierce fought to double hill before King prevailed.
Compton moved over and picked up John Gabriel, who'd defeated James Walden 9-7 and survived a double hill battle against Ken Jennings to reach him. Haddad drew Shane McMinn, who'd gotten by Greg Hogue 9-7, and J.C Riley 9-3. Compton and Haddad advanced to the quarterfinals; Compton with a 9-6 win over Gabriel and Haddad 9-7 over McMinn.
Compton advanced to the semifinals with a 9-6 victory over Haddad, and then, denied Pierce a re-match against King with a 9-5 win. With momentum on his side, Compton took the opening set of the finals 9-1. King, though, came back in the second set to win it 9-5 and claim the event title.
In the Ladies' event, Melissa Little's undefeated run ended with two wins over Rhonda Pierce. They met first in the hot seat match, when Little sent Pierce to the semifinals 7-4. On the loss side, Debi Aldridge won the quarterfinal match over Michelle Davis 7-3, but was stopped by Pierce in a double hill, semifinal match. Little and Pierce fought to double hill in the finals, but Little survived to claim the Ladies' title.
The Oklahoma State 8-Ball Championships played host to a marquee battle over the weekend of August 3-4, as two of the area's more prominent players battled; twice, in fact. The battles were not, however, for the hot seat and finals. Shane McMinn and Chip Compton each played three matches on the loss side of this Open event, with McMinn's second, proving to be Compton's last. McMinn had been sent west from among the winners' side final four by Gordon Vanderveer. He returned to double dip Vanderveer in the finals and claim the OK State title. Chip Compton, who'd been sent to the loss side by McMinn among the winners' side final eight, won three on that side of the bracket and met McMinn a second time in the quarterfinals. The $1,750-added event, held under the auspices of the Midwest 9-Ball Tour, drew 64 entrants to Magoo's in Tulsa, OK. A concurrently-run, $250-added ladies event, won by Brittany Colbert, drew nine entrants.
Once McMinn had successfully negotiated his first encounter with Compton (7-5), he moved into the winners' side semifinals, and his first of three against Vanderveer. Andy Friedhofen, in the meantime, met up with Jaron Williams. Friedhofen and Vanderveer advanced to the hot seat with 7-4 wins over Williams and McMinn. Vanderveer picked up the pace, claiming the hot seat with a 7-3 win over Friedhofen.
Compton opened his loss-side campaign with wins over K.C. Massey and David Strawn, both 5-2, which set him up to face Williams. McMinn picked up Jim Weast, who'd survived a double hill fight against Jesse James and downed Ken Jennings 5-3. Williams went down, double hill, Weast was eliminated 5-2, and the quarterfinal re-match between McMinn and Compton was on.
McMinn won that battle 5-2, and gave up only a single rack in the semifinals against Friedhofen that followed. He then went on to take the opening set of the true double elimination final 7-5, and completed his quest for the Oklahoma State 8-Ball Championship title with a 5-2 win in the second set.
In the Ladies event, Brittany Colbert punctuated a four-match, undefeated run through the short field of nine entrants with a shutout victory in the finals over Connie Williams (mother to Jaron Williams, who finished fifth in the Open event). The two had battled for the hot seat, won by Colbert 5-3. Williams moved west for a semifinal match against Michelle Davis, who'd just survived a double hill battle against Kerry Williams. Williams downed Davis 4-2 for a second chance against Colbert, only to be turned aside without a single rack, leaving Colbert in possession of the Ladies title.
The Midwest 9-Ball Tour moves to Olathe, Kansas this weekend, where Shooter's will place host to a $1,000-added One-Pocket event, and a $4,000-added 9-Ball tournament. The One-Pocket event will get underway on Thursday, August 8, with the 9-Ball tournament to follow, on Friday, August 9.
Sean King, Cindy Cole (TD), Daniel Johnson and Walter Hawley (Owner)
Oklahoma City’s Sean King took Dallas, Texas by storm venturing into uncharted territory, becoming the first player on the Lone Star Tour to win both the Amateur and Open 9-Ball divisions in a single event. It was a long and winding road to victory, fending off Dallas’ T.J. Davis in the Open final and Daniel Johnson in the Amateur final. King bested 35 Open and 53 Amateur players at the $1,000 added Lone Star Billiards Tour 9-Ball Event, held July 6th-7th, 2013, at Hawley’s Billiards in Dallas, Texas. The Open division included Texas notables Joey Barnes from Arlington, David Gutierrez from Austin, Tony Barrington from Lewisville, Eric Brown from Killeen, Greg Sandifer from Fort Worth, Lance Sullivan from Dallas, and local favorite T.J. Davis who returned to defend his 2012 LSBT Open 9-Ball title.
From the plethora of Open division talent, it was hard to discern a winner. Hometown player and defending champion T.J. Davis came on strong, besting Eric Brown, 9-7, and Sean King, 9-7, on his road to the hot seat. As King was fighting through the one-loss side, Tony Barrington was making his way through the winners’ side with wins over Greg Sandifer, 9-5, and Nick Conner, 9-8. Upsets included Joey Barnes who suffered an early hit at the hands of Conner, 9-8. Barnes went on to capture 4 consecutive wins until King ended his role, 7-6. Texas Open Champion David Gutierrez was dealt a second round blow by Doug Pitts, 9-8, but rose again with 6 consecutive match wins until Brown sealed his fate, 7-5. Brown went on to eliminate Raynes and Conner, 7-6 respectively, but was also stopped short by King, 7-4. On the east side, hot seat action saw Barrington fall to Davis, 9-2, staging a Barrington v. King semi-final. Paving his road to payback, the Oklahoma kid made quick work of Barrington, 7-3, the final obstacle between him and Davis.
The intensity of the players made for a suspenseful final. In the first set, Davis and King exchanged blow for blow until King pulled ahead 4-2. Davis was not deterred, but failed to keep pace, losing the set, 9-6. After regrouping, Davis came out firing the second set. The same story unfolded as players exchanged games until it was 6-6 with King breaking. With ease and control, King broke the balls superbly, pocketing a ball. Staying true to form, he ran the final rack to capture his first Lone Star Tour 9-Ball title, 7-6.
King was far from finished. On his trek to clenching the Amateur division title, he bested Ken Jennings, 7-2, Steve Raynes, 7-6, and Lance Sullivan, 7-2. Jonathan Davis was creating havoc of his own with wins over Walt Anderson, 7-4, Greg Sandifer, 7-4, and Zack Shapiro, 7-2, to face King for the hot seat. After a final 8 winners’ side hit from Sullivan, Daniel Johnson began to plow his way through the one-loss side. In the same fashion, after a second round loss to Johnson, Crispian Ng won an incredible 9 consecutive matches to meet his nemesis, Johnson. Ng lost his fight for third, terminated by Johnson, 5-1. King secured the hot seat over Davis, 7-4, who then suffered an elimination blow from Johnson, 5-4. In the final, King wasted little time defeating Johnson, 7-4, becoming the first player to win both divisions in a single Lone Star Tour event.
The Lone Star Tour would like to thank Cindy Cole and Lance Sullivan for directing the Dallas event, Hawley’s Billiards for hosting another successful Lone Star Tour stop, and Jerry Moore for providing an entire weekend of cue repair for the Lone Star players. Last but certainly not least, congratulations to Jennifer Pavlovick for her efforts in the Amateur division, earning “Top Lady” finisher.
The next event will be the annual Lone Star Billiards Tour Texas Open Warm-Up 9-Ball Event, August 10th-11th, 2013, at Skinny Bob’s Billiards in Round Rock, TX. Visit us on facebook.com/lonestartour.
