Daniel Jones got by a slightly-higher-ranked Wayne Haire twice to go undefeated and win the 2015 Q City 9-Ball Tour Championships on the weekend of January 2-3. The $1,000-added event drew 63 entrants to Brown's Billiards in Raleigh, NC.
With Jones racing to 5, and Haire racing to 7, they met first in the hot seat match. Jones had sent Rick "Yo Yo" Roper to the loss side in a winners' side semifinal 5-4 (Roper racing to 7), as Haire was busy surviving a double hill match against Brad Shearer, 7-8, in the other semifinal. Jones claimed the hot seat 5-2 and waited on Haire's return.
Over on the loss side, J.T. Ringgold was making a bid to claim the title. He'd been sent over by Roper in the opening round of play and was working on a nine-match, loss-side streak that would take him as far as the semifinals against Haire. Ringgold got by Michael Robertson 8-3 and Bryan Bryant 8-4 to draw Shearer. Roper picked up Scott Roberts, who'd defeated Alex Fulcher 7-5 and Chad Pike 7-3 to reach him.
Ringgold downed Shearer 8-4 to earn a quarterfinal rematch against Roper, who'd eliminated Roberts 7-5. Ringgold completed his loss-side winning streak with a surely satisfying 8-4 victory over Roper in those quarterfinals.
Haire got his second shot at Jones in the hot seat with a 7-5 win over Ringgold in the semifinals. Though Haire would double the number of racks he chalked up against Jones in the hot seat match, Jones prevailed a second time, winning the only set necessary to claim the Tour Championship title 5-4.
You don't find men and women squaring off against each other in the finals of a tournament very much. It's rare, but it happens, as it did on Saturday, July 11 at Anytime Billiards in Jacksonville, NC. The occasion was a stop on the Q City 9-Ball Tour, which drew 33 entrants. As it turned out, though Paul Swinson and Lindsey Walton were scheduled to face each other in the finals, the match didn't happen. Swinson and Walton opted to split the top two prizes, leaving Swinson, in the hot seat, as the official winner of the event.
They both competed in a winners' side semifinal, though not against each other. Swinson faced Danny Farren, while Walton battled Wayne Haire. Swinson sent Farren west 6-4, while Haire did likewise to Walton 7-4. Swinson claimed the hot seat 6-5 over Haire.
On the loss side, Walton ran into her boyfriend, Jason Lawson, who'd defeated Dustin Boone and Paul Swinson's son, Graham, both 5-2. Farren drew Montez Lloyd, who'd eliminated Bo Miller and a player known only as Lupe, both 7-3. Farren survived a double hill battle versus Lloyd, while the girlfriend downed the boyfriend 5-4.
Walton then defeated Farren, double hill, in the quarterfinals, and wrapped up both her loss side run, and her evening, with a 5-4 win over Haire in the semifinals. She and Swinson opted to split the top two prizes, with Swinson, undefeated, claiming the event title.
The next stop on the Q City 9-Ball Tour will be the NC State 10-Ball Championships. Scheduled for the weekend of July 18-19, the event will be hosted by The Brass Tap, in Raleigh, NC.
Greg Smith returned to the Great Southern Billiard Tour winners' circle with an undefeated run in the tour's first event of 2014. Smith, whose last victory on the tour was in November of 2011 at the same location, had to get by hometown threat, Rick Mosiello (aka Limo), twice to capture the event title. The $1,000-added event drew 37 entrants to Mickey Milligan's Billiards in New Bern, NC.
They met first in the hot seat match, once Smith had sent Zach Wilson to the loss side 9-7 and the 70-something Mosiello had dispatched Josh Heeter 5-1. Smith, who'd come from the loss side in his 2011 win on the tour, got into the hot seat this time with a 9-3 win over Mosiello, and waited on his return.
Over on the loss side, Nolan Leonard and Chris McSorley were waiting for Wilson and Heeter. Leonard, who'd been sent to the loss side by Smith from among the final 16 winners, had defeated Terri Faulk 7-2 and Wayne Haire 7-3. McSorley had gotten by Gary Hill 7-3 and Adam Bryan 7-6 (It was Bryan that Smith had faced and defeated in the finals of the 2011 event). Leonard and McSorley handed Wilson and Heeter their second straight loss, both double hill, and advanced to meet each other in the quarterfinals.
Leonard completed his six-match, loss-side winning streak with a 7-5 win over McSorley, but fell to Mosiello, double hill, in the semifinals. Smith secured the event title by defeating Mosiello a second time in the opening set of the finals 9-4.
Shannon and Marge Daulton thanked Gerry Shepherd and his staff at Mickey Milligan's, along with sponsors Nick Varner Cues & Cases, Delta 13 Racks, Andy Gilbert Custom Cues, Tiger Products, Ozone Billiards and Lomax Custom Cues. The next stop on the GSBT is scheduled for January 11-12 at Shore Thing Billiards in Myrtle Beach, SC.
