Dimitrov goes undefeated in Amateur (600 and under) 9-Ball tourney
All things being equal, it seems likely that Anthony Meglino did not regret the absence of Jeffrey De Luna at the most recent stop on the Sunshine State Predator Pro Am Tour this past weekend (April 24-25). Meglino was on-hand for the Open/Pro portion of that tour stop (#4), looking for his first win on the 2021 tour. He’d been frustrated competing in stops #2 & #3 by De Luna, who defeated him in the finals, both times. De Luna was busy this past weekend, finishing in the tie for 7th place at the 5th Annual Barry Behrman Memorial Tournament in Virginia Beach. In the vacuum he left behind, Meglino stepped in, and though he’d lose the battle for the hot seat to Arizona’s Bobby Emmons, he’d return from the semifinals to down him in a double hill fight and claim the title. The $450-added event drew 64 entrants to Rack’s Billiards & Sports Bar in Sanford, FL.
Tour directors Janene Phillips and Bobby Garza apparently decided that they didn’t have enough to do on the weekend, so they set up a $410-added Amateur event for Fargo rates 600 and below to their normal, single-tournament agenda. The Amateur event drew 64 entrants, as well. Kristian Dimitrov went undefeated in the Amateur event, downing Ronald Machado twice to claim the title.
Meglino’s path to the hot seat went through a bye, Sean Knowles, Randall McLuckie and Lee Heuwagen to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal matchup versus Ricardo Joel Rodriguez. Meanwhile, Emmons got by Marco Bielostozky, Kerry Beland, Jerry Arvelaez and Justin Gilsinan to arrive at his winners’ side semifinal match versus Bobby Garza.
Emmons got into the hot seat match 7-5 over Garza, while Meglino was busy sending Rodriguez to the loss side 7-3. Emmons made short work of Meglino, downing him 7-2 to claim the hot seat.
On the loss side, Garza picked up Tommy Kennedy, who’d lost his opening match to McLuckie and was in the midst of a seven-match, loss-side streak that would end in the semifinals. He downed Garza 7-3 to move into the quarterfinals. Rodriguez picked up Gilsinan, who defeated him 7-1 to join Kennedy.
Kennedy advanced one more step, defeating Gilsinan 7-4 in those quarterfinals. Meglino, though, anxious for a second shot at Emmons in the hot seat, ended TK’s loss-side run 7-4 in the semifinals.
They’ll tell you as often as you’ll listen, that distractions in a pool game are ruinous; that you focus on the table and the situation at hand and that nothing about matches you’ve lost in the distant past or games you lost 10 minutes ago, should matter a damn. But it’s likely that Meglino had a lot on his mind when he went into the finals against Emmons. Two losses in the finals of back-to-back tournaments and losing in the hot seat match doesn’t just fade into the background, no matter how meticulously you try to put thoughts about them aside. Meglino and Emmons battled to double hill before Meglino dropped the final 10-ball to claim his first 2021 title on the tour.
Andrew Cleary, Kristian Dimitrov and Ronald Machado
Dimitrov gets by Cleary and Machado to go undefeated in the Amateur 9-ball event
Prior to this past weekend, Kristian Dimitrov’s only two (recorded) cash finishes in pool tournaments came on the Sunshine State Predator Pro Am Tour in 2020 and the 2018 Florida State Open 10-Ball Championships. He finished 9th in both. He broke through to chalk up an undefeated run through a field of 64, battling Ronald Machado twice and separate opponents in the hot seat match (Andrew Cleary) and finals (Machado).
Dimitrov’s path to the winners’ circle threw up a couple of challenging obstacles. After opening with victories over Vershred Lasthrasho and Jordan Belleville, Dimitrov ran into two straight double hill challenges against Oscar Mora and Joel Vetrono. He survived them both to face Machado and defeat him for the first time 7-5 in a winners’ side semifinal match.
Andrew Cleary, in the meantime, who is apparently playing ‘under the radar’ to avoid the endless headhunting by representatives of the USA Mosconi Cup team, apparently anxious to have him commit to the team as soon as possible (See YouTube video of a year ago). In this event, Cleary clearly attempted to come across as a vulnerable competitor by allowing himself, like Dimitrov, to be caught up in two double hill matches, though in Cleary’s case, unlike Dimitrov, he cleverly broke them up, so as not to arouse suspicion that he was capable of winning two double hill matches in a row. He had no qualms about shutting out his first opponent, Kerry Beland, but slowed things down with his first double hill win, over Brian Sudney. He got by Shane Unger and Dominick Dunn, both 7-3, before getting cleverly caught up in his second double hill match, versus Gary Gilsinan in a winners’ side semifinal. He prevailed to face Dimitrov in the hot seat match and then let the man claim his first hot seat by only scoring a single rack against him.
On the loss side, Machado met and defeated Manuel Montas 7-3. Gilsinan survived a double hill fight against Tim Moss to join Machado in the quarterfinals. Machado won that quarterfinal match 7-3 and then faced an exhausted Andrew Cleary, who allowed himself to win two of the nine racks that they played against each other, so that Machado could get a second shot at Dimitrov in the hot seat. Dimitrov claimed his first event title with a 9-6 victory in his second match versus Machado.
Tour directors Janene Phillips and Bobby Garza thanked the ownership and staff at Rack’s Billiards for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Predator, Kamui, Stitch It To Me Embroidery, Diamond Products and Central Florida USA Pool League. They also thanked Leah Nusbaum and Rob McLaren for their assistance in running the dual event, and all the players who travel and follow the tour from stop to stop. The next stop to stop at (#5), scheduled for May 1-2, will be a $1,000-added event, hosted by Stroker’s Bar & Grill in Palm Harbor, FL.
(l to r): Mike Davis, Mike Delawder, Anthony Meglino & Pedro Botta
Fresh off his fourth victory at the 7th Annual NC State Open 9-Ball Championships (March 1-2) in Hickory, NC, Mike Davis, Jr. traveled about 555 miles southwest, to sign on to the Sunshine State Pro Am Tour’s second 2020 stop; the $500-added One Pocket part of it, that drew 16 entrants to Racks Billiards in Sanford, FL. Sent to the loss side in a winners’ side semifinal, Davis returned to meet the man who’d sent him over (Mike Delawder) and defeat him in an exciting, double hill final match.
In a concurrently-run, $1,000-added ($500 from Racks Billiards & $500 from Predator Cues) event for Fargo Rates of 600 and below that drew 56 entrants, Manuel Montas went undefeated to claim that title.
It was a four-match march to the One Pocket hot seat for Delawder and a seven-match march to the title for Davis. Delawder got by Justin Gilsinan and Pedro Botta, before sending Davis to the loss side 3-1 in a winners’ side semifinal. Anthony Meglino, in the meantime, downed George Saunders and Adam Wheeler to face Kyle Bova in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Delawder beat Davis 3-1 and in the hot seat match, faced Meglino, who’d shut Bova out. Delawder claimed the hot seat by shutout and waited for Davis to finish his three-match, loss-side trip.
Davis began his trip back to the finals with a shutout over James Sandaler, who’d eliminated Bobby Garza and Adam Wheeler to reach him. Bova was defeated double hill by Pedro Botta, who’d previously eliminated George Saunders and Nathan Rose.
Davis dropped Botta into 4th place with a 3-1 quarterfinal victory and got his second shot at Delawder, following a shutout over Meglino in the semifinals.
The race was extended to 4 in the finals and early on, things weren’t looking to good for Davis, Jr. Delawder reached the hill at 3-0 before Davis was able to respond, but when he did, he came back strong, winning four in a row to claim game, set and match.
Montas and Kukadia split top prizes, with undefeated Montas claiming 9-ball title
Ameet Kukadia, Manuel Montas and Cody Ingle
With a Fargo Rate differential of two points, Manuel Montas (596) and Ameet Kukadia (598) played against each other once in a straight-up race to 7 in the 9-ball tournament. Montas won that single matchup and as the undefeated occupant of the hot seat claimed the event title, when he and Kukudia agreed to a split of the top two prizes.
Montas’ path to the hot seat went through Muhammand Ali, Jeffrey McDonald, Francisco Gika and Brent Mireles to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal versus Guy Skehan Jackson; a 596 (Montas)/531 (Jackson) matchup. Three of the four matches that Kukudia (598) played to arrive at his winners’ side semifinal against Cody Ingle (546) went double hill and the fourth one was an ‘almost.’ He won his second round match against Lenny Reid 7-5, but he had to play a 13th deciding match against Evan Huynh, Katie Bowse and Kristian Dimitrov to reach Ingle.
Montas and Jackson battled to double hill before Montas advanced to the hot seat match. Kukadia gave up only a single rack to Ingle and joined Montas in what would prove to be the title match, battling for the hot seat. Montas won it 7-3.
On the loss side, Jackson picked up Stan Delonjay, who was working on a seven-match, loss-side winning streak that was about to end and had included recent wins over Kristian Dimitrov 5-1 and Vernet Lasrado 5-3. Ingle drew Evan Huynh, who, after his double hill defeat at the hands of Kukadia, was working on a six-match, loss-side streak that was also about to end and had recently included victories over Larry English 5-2 and Brent Mireles 5-1.
Jackson and Ingle ended the loss-side streaks of their respective opponents by the same 5-2 score; Jackson over Delonjay and Ingle over Huynh. Jackson and Ingle then battled to double hill in the quarterfinals. Ingle prevailed and had his modest, loss-side streak ended by Kukadia 5-2 in the semifinals.
The decision to split the cash involved with the top two prizes was negotiated and reached. As the undefeated occupant of the hot seat, Montas became the official winner.
Tour directors Janene Phillips and Bobby Garza thanked the ownership and staff at Racks Billiards, as well as title sponsor Predator Cues, Diamond Products, Kamui, Central Florida USA Pool League, Stitch it To Me Embroidery, AZBilliards, and the live streaming of the events by Xtreme Pool. The next stop on the Sunshine State Pro Am Tour, scheduled for April 25-26, will be hosted by Brewlands in Tampa, FL.
(l to r): Mike Lear, David Grossman, Randy Jordan & Mike Zingale (room owner)
Randy Jordan and David Grossman battled twice to claim the 2018 Florida State Open 10-Ball Championship title. Jordan won both battles, hot seat match and finals, to claim the event title. The $3,500-added event, held on the weekend of March 3-4, drew 55 entrants to Zingale’s Billiard Room & Sports Bar in Tallahassee, FL. A Second Chance event, which drew 31 entrants, was won by Steve Chaplin.
As the headline story played out, you couldn’t help but think, as it got close, that a lot of people in attendance at this year’s 10-Ball Championships were looking ahead to a potential match between Tommy Kennedy and Johnny Archer, who were the last two men standing in the US Open 9-Ball Championships, 26 years ago (1992). It was Kennedy’s first US Open, and he not only defeated Archer, he did it twice to claim that title. They’d played each other on the road numerous times before they got there, and countless times since, so the potential re-match at this event carried some history weight to it. As Jordan and Grossman advanced to their hot seat match, Kennedy and Archer were on the loss side; Kennedy, earlier, having been sent there by Jordan, and Archer having just been sent there by Grossman. They came within a match of meeting up in the quarterfinals.
Moving into the winners’ side semifinals, Jordan had given up only 11 racks in 39 games. He’d give up 10 in his next 24. He faced Tobias Hoiss in one winners’ side semifinal, as Grossman faced Archer in the other one. Jordan got into the hot seat match with a 7-5 win over Hoiss, while Grossman was sending Archer over 7-4. Jordan downed Grossman in their first matchup 7-5 and waited on his return.
Over on the loss side, Kennedy was chalking up wins on his way to a six-match, loss-side streak that would take him as far as the semifinals. He’d most recently downed Wayne Catledge 7-2 and in a double hill fight, defeated Nick Applebee. This set Kennedy up for a match against Hoiss. Archer drew Anthony Meglino, who’d won the season-opening stop on the AllOutPool Tour a week earlier, and in this event, working on the loss side, had shut out Kristian Dimitrov, and eliminated Francisco Diaz 7-4 to face Archer.
Kennedy did what he had to do to earn a match against Archer by defeating Hoiss 7-2. Archer, though, more than likely to the consternation of those anticipating an Archer/Kennedy match, fell to Meglino 7-4. In what was described as a quarterfinal, double hill “thriller” by tour representatives, Kennedy and Meglino battled it out for advancement to the semifinals. Kennedy won it, and took his shot at Grossman.
Grossman spoiled Kennedy’s bid for a re-match against Jordan, defeating him 7-5 in those semifinals to earn his own re-match. Jordan spoiled that re-match, getting out to an early 4-1 lead in the finals. A few back and forth games brought things to a 6-3 lead for Jordan, after which he took three in a row to claim the Florida State Open 10-Ball title.
Tour representatives thanked the Zingale family and staff for “an excellent job at (their) brand new location and great hospitality over the two-day event.” They also thanked sponsors Simonis, Aramith, Stroke-It-Wear, Crosby’s Billiards and Darts, and XL Press Co. Stop #4 on the Florida Pool Tour, scheduled for April 21-22, will be hosted by Capone’s in Spring Hill, FL. Players can enter online at http://www.floridapooltour.com.
