Jason Evans (entrant #172 in our database of nearly 20,000 pool players) had been bringing home cash from pool tournaments for almost 20 years, but according to our records (containing information only on events reported to us), had yet to win a major tournament. Until this past weekend, February 16-17, when he went undefeated through a field of 41 on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. Evans and David Tickle battled twice in this event, hosted by Gate City Billiards Club in Greensboro, NC. Both matches, for the hot seat and finals, in straight-up races to 9, went double hill.
Their first meetup followed Tickle’s defeat of Shaun Apple 9-2 in one of the winners’ side semifinals and Evans’ 9-1 victory over Brad Smith in the other one. Evans took the first of his two double hill wins over Tickle and claimed (again, according to available records) his first hot seat.
On the loss side, Apple picked up Jerry Stone, who’d defeated Scott Johnson 6-5 (Johnson racing to 7) and Michael Moore 6-4. Smith drew Gate City Billiards Club owner, Don Liebes, who’d recently defeated Harry Florence, double hill, and Geoff Grayson 6-3.
Apple and Smith advanced to the quarterfinals; Apple 5-4 over Stone (racing to 6) and Smith, by shutout, over Liebes. Smith gave up only a single rack to Apple to take the quarterfinal match 6-1.
Tickle gave up only two to Smith in the semifinals to earn his rematch against Evans in the finals. A second double hill match ensued, with the same result. Evans claimed his first major title.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked Don Liebes and his Gate City Billiards Club 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 (Feb. 23-24), will be dedicated to the memory of tour veteran Chris Walsh, who passed away recently. The event is expected to be the first Chris Walsh Memorial of many to come. The event will be hosted by Walsh’s home room, Randolph Billiards in Hickory, NC, where he won a stop on the tour in February 2017. Money will be raised at this event in support of Walsh’s family.
Three months shy of two years ago, at the age of 13, Cameron Lawhorne made his first of nine successful (meaning, money-earning) appearances on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. He finished 9th in that first March, 2017 stop at Cue Time in Spartanburg, SC, and a month later, finished 5th in a stop at The Clubhouse in Lynchburg, VA. Throughout 2018, he competed seven more times on the tour, finishing among the top 10 in all of them, including his first tour victory in a come-from-the-loss-side, double dip win in the finals, over one of the tour’s more prolific winners, Don Lilly at the Gate City Billiards Club in Greensboro, NC.
Lawhorne, now 15, returned to The Clubhouse in Lynchburg on Saturday, December 9, and coming from the loss side again, he chalked up his second 2018 win. Before he got into the finals of the event, after winning seven on the loss side, he defeated the tour’s 2018 points leader, Zac Leonard, before double dipping Wes Enoch in the finals. The event, which coincided with a serious snow storm in the area and rendered everyone’s ride home somewhat treacherous, drew 20 entrants to the Clubhouse.
The youngster made it as far as the winners’ side quarterfinals before running into Steve Harrington and being sent to the loss side. Harrington moved on to a winners’ side semifinal against Enoch, while Leonard drew Greg Tibbs. Enoch got into the hot seat match with a 5-3 win over Harrington, as Leonard shut out Tibbs to join him. Enoch claimed the hot seat 5-5 over Leonard (racing to 7) and waited for Lawhorne to complete his loss-side trip.
Lawhorne began that trip with a double hill win over Robert Cuneo, and defeated Brian Bryant 6-5 (Bryant racing to 9) to draw Tibbs. Harrington picked up Chuck Cuneo (brother to Robert), who’d eliminated Michael Moore 7-5 and Jordan Shifflet 7-2.
Lawhorne defeated Tibbs 6-4 and in the quarterfinals, faced Cuneo, who’d defeated Harrington 7-4. Lawhorne then sent the second Cuneo to the figurative showers 6-3 and turned to face the tour’s points leader, Leonard, in the semifinals.
A 6-2 win over Leonard in those semifinals sent Lawhorne to the double elimination finals. He and Enoch would play 14 games. Lawhorne won 12 of them, giving up two in the opening set and none at all in the second set.
Going into this event, one week ahead of the invitation-only Tour Championships, the competition for the tour’s point-standings leader was still on the line and could have been won by any of four competitors. Two of the four (Don Lilly and JT Ringgold) did not compete in Lynchburg, leaving the field and ultimately the point-standings title to Zac Leonard, who, like Travis Guerra in 2017, will receive paid entry to all of the tour’s stops in 2019. The fourth possible winner of the title, Angela Parker, was ineligible by virtue of her position as co-tour director.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at The Clubhouse, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Bar Pool Tables, Delta 13 Racks, AZ Billiards and Professor Q-Ball. The invitational Tour Championships, scheduled for this weekend, December 15-16, will be hosted by Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN. According to Parker, there are presently 82 confirmed entrants for the event. It is the tour’s second Tour Championship of the year, the first of which drew 94 entrants and played out on bar box tables back in September. This weekend’s $1,000-added event will play out on Borderline Billiards’ 9-ft. tables.
The Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour will be getting a jump on the New Year. They will hold the first tour stop of their 2019 season, three days ahead of the actual New Year, on Saturday, December 29, at Randolph Billiards in Hickory, NC.
