Wilkie and Lac Win Billiards Gold in Sterling

Posted by admin as Billiard Tour News - Tiger Planet Pool Tour

Wilkie and Lac Win Billiards Gold in Sterling
Tiger Pool Tour / Sterling, VA
by Skip Maloney
Shaun Wilkie held off a strong surge by Brandon Shuff in the finals but finished undefeated in the Tiger Pool Tour stop the weekend of July 6-7. The Bob Stocks Memorial, hosted by the First Break Café in Sterling, VA, drew 48 entrants to the $1,500-added open tournament and 12 women to the $350-added ladies’ event, won by My-Hanh Lac.
Earlier in the day, Wilkie and Shuff had faced down Matt Krah and Shane Jackson among the winners’ side final four to advance. The hot seat match-up that followed had Wilkie prevailing over Shuff 9-6.
On the one-loss side, Matt Clatterbuck and Danny Green advanced to face each other in the quarterfinals, where Clatterbuck dropped Green into fourth place with a 7-5 victory and then turned to face Shuff in the semifinals. Shuff, looking to at least duplicate his second-place finish on the tour’s last stop, ousted Clatterbuck to get his chance.
Wilkie jumped out to a commanding 8-3 lead in the race-to-11 finals before Shuff fought back to tie it. After trading the next two racks, Wilkie reached the hill first. Shuff had his chances in last game, but Wilkie left him with a jump shot that he missed. With ball in hand, Wilkie closed it out at 11-9 to take first place.
In the ladies’ event, My-Hanh Lac chalked up her second straight Tiger Tour win with a commanding 9-2 victory over Rachel Eliazar in the finals. The final four on the winners’ side of Sunday’s event ended up as the top four finishers.
Pauline Mattes and Rachael Eliazar dropped Sueyen Rhee and Ji Hyun Park out of contention before facing each other in the quarterfinals. Eliazar advanced to face Kim Smith in the semifinals on the heels of a hill-hill victory and went on to challenge Lac. In a race to 9, Lac wasted little time in repeating her victory on the tour’s last stop, defeating Eliazar 9-2 to capture the first-place prize.
Open Results:
1st Shaun Wilkie
2nd Brandon Shuff
3rd Matt Clatterbuck
4th Danny Green
5th Matt Krah
Shane Jackson
7th Manny Chau
Shawn Toni
9th Pooky Rasmeloungon
Eric Moore
Paul Adolini
Steve Lillis

Ladies’ Results:
1st My-Hanh Lac
2nd Rachel Eliazar
3rd Kim Smith
4th Pauline Mattes

Schmidt and Lac Take First at Diamond Billiards

Posted by admin as Billiard Tour News - Tiger Planet Pool Tour

Schmidt and Lac Take First at Diamond Billiards
Tiger Tour / Midlothian, VA
by InsidePOOL Staff
The Tiger Tour was held at Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA, for the first time May 31-June 1, where the room added a total of $2500 to the event with the help of Jagermeister and a cue donated by John Schmidt’s sponsor, OB1, and the sponsors of the Tiger Tour. Billiard professional John Schmidt took top honors in the open division, while My-Hanh Lac took the ladies’ event.
The open field was a strong one, with 41 players coming out to prevent Chau from taking his fourth tournament in a row and 20 ladies attending for the title of Virginia State champion. Saturday’s line-up included several of the top points leaders of the tour, along with some new faces from the Richmond area.
The surprise visitor from Florida was pro player Schmidt, currently sponsored by the host pool room. Schmidt’s tournament run didn’t allow a single player to reach above four games. He fought his way through to the final four in the winners’ bracket, where he dispatched of David Hunt 9-3 to face Chau. This was a much-anticipated match, but Schmidt sent Chau to the one-loss side with a 9-4 win.
His wins Saturday included Dave White 9-3, Larry Kressel 9-4, and his final match for Saturday against Dustin Paris ended 9-3, taking him into Sunday, where he would meet Richmond local David Hunt in the final four of the winners’ bracket.
After taking an early loss Saturday to Paul Helms, Brandon Shuff began plugging away to get back to the top. He struggled through the one-loss side to best Larry Kressel 7-0 and advance to the semifinals against Chau. He bested Chau a stunning 7-1 to meet Schmidt. The finals weren’t too evenly matched, for Schmidt walked away with the first-place prize after defeating Shuff in an 11-0 victory.
The ladies’ division Sunday saw 20 players vying for the title of Virginia State champion and the much-coveted spot at the WPBA 2008 U.S. Open. With a surprise visit from Virginia’s Governor Gilmore, the ladies were really in the spotlight.
Newcomer to the tour Iris Ranola of Manila, Philippines, appeared to be the toughest competition for Ming Ng and My-Hanh Lac early in the day. The big surprise for the day was longtime friend of the tour, Christine Foster. Foster pushed her way through the winners’ bracket, defeating Ann Bellamy 7-4 and Katie Cowan 7-5 but was sent to the elimination bracket by Lac. She didn’t give up and went on to defeat Sharon O’Hanlon 7-5 for a shot at Ng. Ng didn’t give her a chance, defeating her 7-0, sending Foster into fourth place. Ng and Lac matched up to see who would go on to play Ranola in the finals, with Lac coming up with the win. Lac had already qualified for the U.S. Open and was going strictly for the Virginia State title. Lac came out ahead 9-7 against Ranola, so Ranola will be attending the WPBA 2008 U.S. Open alongside My-Hanh Lac.
Open Results:
1st John Schmidt
2nd Brandon Shuff
3rd Manuel Chau
4th Larry Kressel
5th Danny Green
David Hunt
7th Joey Ryan
Paul Helms
9th Dustin Paris
Eric Moore
Bernie Kirby
My-Hanh Lac
Ladies’ Results:
1st My-Hanh Lac
2nd Iris Ranola
3rd Ming Ng
4th Christine Foster
5th Sharon O’Hanlon
Katie Cowan
7th Cheryl Pritchard
Ji-Hyun Park

Chau and Shea Make Strong Closings

Posted by admin as Billiard Tour News - Tiger Planet Pool Tour

Chau and Shea Make Strong Closings

Tiger Pool Tour / Rockville, MD
by Skip Maloney
Billiard player Manuel Chau started strong and finished strong in an undefeated romp at the Tiger Pool Tour stop on the weekend of May 3-4. The $1,250-added event drew 64 entrants to Orange ball Billiards in Rockville, MD.
Chau started on Saturday with a decisive 9-2 victory in the tournament’s opening round, only to struggle through his next three match-ups. By the time he reached the final four on the winners’ side on Sunday, he’d lost 18 of 45 games in his middle three matches. His opponent in that final four, Joey Ryan, had lost 24 of his 54. By contrast, the other two opponents in the winners’ side final four, Shaun Wilkie and Brian Deska, had lost only 26 games combined. Both Deska and Wilkie had each shut out one of their opponents on their trip to the winners’ side final four.
As Wilkie and Deska struggled to a 9-6 Deska victory, Chau embarked on a closing run that saw him lose only 6 of his next 33 games. He defeated Ryan and then Deska 9-2 to move into the hot seat.
Over on the one-loss side of the bracket, Ryan McCreesh, Brandon Shuff, Eric Moore and Shane Jackson met in the final four match-ups there, with McCreesh and Moore advancing. McCreesh tallied his eighth victory on the one-loss side, defeating Moore before turning to Brian Deska in the semifinal match. Deska, having just lost to Chau, turned the 9-2 scoring in that match upside down, defeating McCreesh 9-3 to move back into the finals against Chau. The turnaround didn’t last long, as Chau closed out an undefeated weekend with his third 9-2 victory in a row to capture the first place prize.
In the women’s event, it was Linda Shea who emerged as the winner from a field of 14 entrants. Shea had been knocked to the one-loss side of the bracket by Ming Ng in the winner’s side round of eight and worked her way back through five opponents, losing only 10 games to meet and defeat Ng 9-6 in the final. She defeated Cheryl Squire in the quarterfinal match and Sharon O’Hanlon in the semifinal.
Open Results:
1st Manuel Chau
2nd Brian Deska
3rd Ryan McCreesh
4th Eric Moore
5th Joey Ryan
Shaun Wilkie
7th Brandon Shuff
Shane Jackson
9th Kevin Tsui
Andy Lincoln
Matt Clatterbuck
Women’s Results:
1st Linda Shea
2nd Ming Ng
3rd Sharon O’Hanlon
4th Cheryl Squire
5th Ji-Hyun Park
My-Hanh Lac
7th Spring Helligrath
Ceci Strain

Chau and Ng Conquer All Comers

Posted by admin as Billiard Tour News - Tiger Planet Pool Tour

Chau and Ng Conquer All Comers
Tiger Pool Tour / Winchester, VA

by Andy Lincoln
The Tiger Tour headed West March 29-30 to Winchester, VA, and found a fantastic new room by the name of Blue Fox Billiards. The room has been open for less than a month, but already the weekend crowds kept the place packed. The tour brought in an additional 63 open division entrants and 13 ladies to claim their stake in the $2,000 added money, with Manuel Chau and Ming Ng winning their respective divisions.
Chau, the 2007 year-end final winner, took on Matt Clatterbuck, the new house pro of Blue Fox Billiards, in the second round. These two rivals fought it out, with Chau winning this one 9-8. Ryan McCreesh and Brandon Shuff both looked strong, advancing over their first three opponents to reach Sunday.
The winners’-side semifinals were uneventful with McCreesh defeating Moore and Chau overcoming Shuff. The hot seat match stayed close, but it was McCreesh taking the 9-6 win over Chau. In the elimination bracket, Moore and Shuff battled it out before each made a mistake at 6-all. Shuff walked away with the fortunate victory, placing Moore into the fourth-place spot. Chau jumped out 6-1 on Shuff but stalled out. Shuff came all the way back to 6-6 before an unlikely scratch on the break ended his tournament. The single-set final race to 11 stayed close most of the way, with McCreesh enjoying the upper hand. Chau closed in at the end and won 11-9.
Thirteen lucky ladies showed up Sunday for the women’s event. Ng, who won the previous tour stop, started her day with a tough matchup with WPBA pro Megan Minerich, where Ng came out on top 7-5. Ng and My-Hanh Lac reached the hot seat match with comfortable wins over Ji-Hyun Park and Nicole Vincent, respectively. This match turned out to be one-sided, with Lac easily defeating Ng 7-2.
The elimination bracket held few surprises as Park took the fourth spot at the hands of Minerich. Ng and Minerich had a close one with Ng coming out on top again 5-4. The single-set final race to 9 with Lac was much different than the previous meeting. Ng won this one with no problems 9-4.
Open Results:
1st Manuel Chau
2nd Ryan McCreesh
3rd Brandon Shuff
4th Eric Moore
5th Matt Clatterbuck
Paul Adolini
7th Shaun Wilkie
Kevin West
9th Larry Kressel
Steve Fleming
Alan Duty
Dale Kokoski
Women’s Results:
1st Ming Ng
2nd My-Hanh Lac
3rd Megan Minerich
4th Ji-Hyun Park
5th Nicole Vincent
Tonya Schetrompf
7th Judie Wilson
Cheryl Squire

Klein and Ng Tops on Tiger Billiard Tour

Posted by admin as Billiard Tour News - Tiger Planet Pool Tour

Klein and Ng Tops on Tiger Billiard Tour
by Rick Davis
Chip Klein and Ming Ng dominated the weekend as each went undefeated in the Tiger Pool Tour’s open and women’s divisions, respectively. Taking place February 15-16 at Hagerstown Billiards and Café in Hagerstown, MD, the 82-player open event and 20-player women’s event had fierce action until the winners were crowned late Sunday night.
In the open event Klein started with a bye then defeated two tour heavyweights, Ryan McCreesh 9-6 and Matt Clatterbuck 9-2. On the same corner of the chart another top Northeastern player was handed a defeat when Shaun “Get Some” Wilkie was sent left by Kevin West 9-5. West was on his game and in the next round sent top pro Dennis Hatch away 9-5; however, Klein was waiting and defeated West 9-6 to reach the hot seat match. On the other half of the bracket Matt Krah was coasting along, taking five wins after a first-round bye to meet Klein in the hot seat match.
On the one-loss side the action was just as riveting. Brandon Shuff was working on a comeback after his mid-event loss. Shuff took five one-loss side wins to reach the quarterfinals, eliminating Clatterbuck 7-3 and Hatch 7-5 along the way. The final section of the one-loss side had Wilkie keeping pace as he took four more wins before facing a rematch against West. Once again West had Wilkie’s number, though, and advanced to the quarterfinals by virtue of a 7-5 win.
The event was down to the top four players. Klein slipped past Krah double-hill in the hot seat match, while Shuff drilled West 7-2 in the quarterfinals. Shuff came out on top again in the semifinals, where he sent Krah home then advanced to face Klein. With a single, extended race to 11, both players were giving it their all, but in the end Klein took the win with a 2-rack advantage and eliminated Shuff 11-9 to earn the tour stop win.
In the women’s division Ng blazed her way through four matches to reach the hot seat match, while Megan Minerich did the same. After a short showdown Ng defeated Minerich 7-4 to have control of the winners’ side. On the one-loss side Linda Shea woke up after her first-round loss to take five matches to reach the quarterfinals. Nearby, Cheryl Squire also recovered from her loss, taking a trio of wins to face Shea. In no time Shea had advanced her streak again, eliminating Squire 5-2 then Minerich double-hill to reach the finals after an impossibly long comeback run. That run may have taken its toll, however, as Ng wasted no time picking Shea apart and taking the match 9-4 to be crowned champion.
Open Results:
1st Chip Klein
2nd Brandon Shuff
3rd Matt Krah
4th Kevin West
5th Shaun Wilkie
Don Steele
Women’s Results:
1st Ming Ng
2nd Linda Shea
3rd Megan Minerich
4th Cheryl Squire

Tiger Billiard Finale Won by Chau and Lac

Posted by admin as Billiard Tour News - Tiger Planet Pool Tour

Tiger Billiar Finale Won by Chau and Lac
Tiger Pool Tour / Arlington, VA

by Andy Lincoln
The Tiger Pool Tour’s 2007 season wrapped up at Champions Billiards Café in Arlington, VA, December 8-9. This was a $4,000-added event that attracted a strong field of 53 open division entries and 16 women’s division players all hoping to make their final mark on the season.
Matt Clatterbuck had an uneventful Saturday with wins three easy wins to make the final four on the winners’ side. Points leader Shaun Wilkie also had no problems winning his first two matches 9-1 before facing the women’s division points leader, My-Hanh Lac. Wilkie played a controlled match and won 9-3. Tour founder Danny Green played well in all four of his matches to reach Sunday undefeated. Joining Clatterbuck, Wilkie, and Green in the final four was Manuel Chau, who has been a strong contender in the few events that he has played in this year.
Play continued Sunday with Clatterbuck and Chau advancing easily over Wilkie and Green, respectively, by 9-4 scores. The hot seat match was hard fought, with Clatterbuck winning on the hill 9-8. The elimination bracket played out with Larry Kressel coming back from 6-2 to win 7-6 against Brandon Shuff ending Shuff’s bid for the points lead. Kressel fell victim to a determined Danny Mulhollen III. Mulhollen had lost his first match but rebounded with six wins to pit him against Wilkie. Wilkie won this one 7-5 and then slipped past Green 7-6. Chau was not happy with his heartbreaking loss for the hot seat and defeated Wilkie 7-5 to earn a rematch with Clatterbuck.
The single race to 11 final between Chau and Clatterbuck was flawless. Clatterbuck took an 8-4 lead but watched as Chau evened the score at 8. Chau made the most of his next turn at the table, running out the set to win 11-8. Neither player missed an open shot in this match.
An even field of 16 players came out Sunday to shoot at the $1,000 share of the added money. Points’ leader Lac had a challenging day, winning over Bethany Kurtz 7-2, Ming Ng 7-4, and Asia Cycak 7-6 to reach the hot seat match. Her opponent was none other than second place on the points list, Cheryl Squire. Lac seemed to establish who was number one when she raced out to a 6-1 lead, but Squire fought back game after game until the score reached 6-all. Lac calmly sank the 5-9 combination to advance to the hot seat.
In the elimination bracket, Malea Haacke came out on top of Ng 5-4 and then put Cycak into fourth place. Squire seemed unfazed by her hot seat comeback that came up short, breezing through Haacke 5-0 to reach the finals. The single set race to 9 went back and forth until, after a timeout at 5-5, Lac took charge and won 9-6.
Open Results:
1st Manuel Chau
2nd Matt Clatterbuck
3rd Shaun Wilkie
4th Danny Green
5th Danny Mulhollen III
Brian Deska
7th Larry Kressel
Mark Touch
9th Brandon Shuff
Jerry Gruber
My-Hanh Lac
Chris Adams
Women’s Results:
1st My-Hanh Lac
2nd Cheryl Squire
3rd Malea Haacke
4th Asia Cycak
5th Bethany Kurtz
Ming Ng
7th Chanta Kry
Sharon O’Hanlon

Shuff Wins First Billiard Tour Event and Shea Repeats

Posted by admin as Billiard Tour News - Tiger Planet Pool Tour

Shuff Wins First Billiard Tour Event and Shea Repeats
Tiger Pool Tour / Frederick, MD

by Andy Lincoln
The Tiger Pool Tour returned to action at Champions Billiards Café in Frederick, MD, October 6-7 for their eleventh event. A big thank you goes out to room owner Gary Allen and his friendly hard-working staff for welcoming the tour. A strong, tough field of players came out to play for the $2,000-added money in both the open and women’s division events.
Brandon Shuff started his Saturday out with a 9-8 scare from Trevor Dentz. A quick 9-2 win over Tai Bui and a 9-5 score with Barry Bowman pitted Shuff against strong tour player Lee Holt. Holt was having a great day with a pair of 9-2 wins over Matt Clatterbuck and Dan Maruschak. Shuff advanced past Holt 9-7 to reach the final four winners’ side going into Sunday’s play. The bottom half of the bracket was ruled by Manuel Chau, who knocked off three Virginians in Luther Farley, Joe Russo, and Larry Kressel. Joining Chau and Shuff in the final four were Jerry Slivka and Danny Mulhollen III, both in the current top five on the tour rankings.
Play continued Sunday with Shuff working his way through Slivka 9-7 and Chau squashing Mulhollen 9-3. An exciting 9-8 win over Chau put Shuff into the hot seat. Not much of interest was happening in the elimination bracket. Mulhollen and Slivka both advanced to meet up where Slivka sent Mulhollen home in the fourth-place spot. Slivka quickly took down Chau to set up a rematch with Shuff in the single-set, race-to-11 finals.
The finals started out with Shuff taking a commanding 6-1 lead. Slivka never threw in the towel and fought back to 7 with Shuff on the hill. Shuff pushed to a long, tough jump shot, which Slivka passed on without even getting out of his chair. Shuff confidently drained the improbable shot and maintained his composure to run the rack out.
A field of 12 ladies came out Sunday to shoot at the cash. The final four winners’ side came down to last event’s winner, Linda Shea, tour regulars Malea Haacke and Sharon O’Hanlon, as well as Ming Ng making the most of a rare appearance. Shea advanced over Haacke 7-3, while Ng came out on top 7-6 with O’Hanlon. In the hot seat match, Shea took an early lead before Ng came back to win 7-5.
In the elimination bracket, O’Hanlon sent Haacke home in fourth place before losing to Shea. The single-set, race-to-9 finals saw a determined Shea take another early lead. Ng managed a couple more games, but it was Shea winning with a 9-6 score for her second consecutive tour win.
Open Results:
1st Brandon Shuff
2nd Jerry Slivka
3rd Manuel Chau
4th Danny Mulhollen
5th Andy Lincoln
Ilir Jaho
7th Richard Barney
Joel Lackraj
9th Larry Kressel
Luther Farley
Lee Holt
Joe Russo
Women’s Results:
1st Linda Shea
2nd Ming Ng
3rd Sharon O’Hanlon
4th Malea Haacke
5th Cheryl Squire
Kathleen Lawless
7th Nicole Vincent
Simone Hospedales

Shuff Wins First Billiard Event, Shea Repeats

Posted by admin as Billiard Tour News - Tiger Planet Pool Tour

Shuff Wins First Billiard Event, Shea Repeats

Tiger Pool Tour / Frederick, MD
by Andy Lincoln
The Tiger Pool Tour returned to action at Champions Billiards Café in Frederick, MD, October 6-7 for their eleventh event. A big thank you goes out to room owner Gary Allen and his friendly hard-working staff for welcoming the tour. A strong, tough field of players came out to play for the $2,000-added money in both the open and women’s division events.
Brandon Shuff started his Saturday out with a 9-8 scare from Trevor Dentz. A quick 9-2 win over Tai Bui and a 9-5 score with Barry Bowman pitted Shuff against strong tour player Lee Holt. Holt was having a great day with a pair of 9-2 wins over Matt Clatterbuck and Dan Maruschak. Shuff advanced past Holt 9-7 to reach the final four winners’ side going into Sunday’s play. The bottom half of the bracket was ruled by Manuel Chau, who knocked off three Virginians in Luther Farley, Joe Russo, and Larry Kressel. Joining Chau and Shuff in the final four were Jerry Slivka and Danny Mulhollen III, both in the current top five on the tour rankings.
Play continued Sunday with Shuff working his way through Slivka 9-7 and Chau squashing Mulhollen 9-3. An exciting 9-8 win over Chau put Shuff into the hot seat. Not much of interest was happening in the elimination bracket. Mulhollen and Slivka both advanced to meet up where Slivka sent Mulhollen home in the fourth-place spot. Slivka quickly took down Chau to set up a rematch with Shuff in the single-set, race-to-11 finals.
The finals started out with Shuff taking a commanding 6-1 lead. Slivka never threw in the towel and fought back to 7 with Shuff on the hill. Shuff pushed to a long, tough jump shot, which Slivka passed on without even getting out of his chair. Shuff confidently drained the improbable shot and maintained his composure to run the rack out.
A field of 12 ladies came out Sunday to shoot at the cash. The final four winners’ side came down to last event’s winner, Linda Shea, tour regulars Malea Haacke and Sharon O’Hanlon, as well as Ming Ng making the most of a rare appearance. Shea advanced over Haacke 7-3, while Ng came out on top 7-6 with O’Hanlon. In the hot seat match, Shea took an early lead before Ng came back to win 7-5.
In the elimination bracket, O’Hanlon sent Haacke home in fourth place before losing to Shea. The single-set, race-to-9 finals saw a determined Shea take another early lead. Ng managed a couple more games, but it was Shea winning with a 9-6 score for her second consecutive tour win.

Open Results:

Women’s Results:

1st
Brandon Shuff

1st
Linda Shea

2nd
Jerry Slivka

2nd
Ming Ng

3rd
Manuel Chau

3rd
Sharon O’Hanlon

4th
Danny Mulhollen

4th
Malea Haacke

5-6th
Andy Lincoln

5-6th
Cheryl Squire

Ilir Jaho

Kathleen Lawless

7-8th
Richard Barney

7-8th
Nicole Vincent

Joel Lackraj

Simone Hospedales

9-12th
Larry Kressel

Luther Farley

Lee Holt

Joe Russo

13-16th
Larry Nevel

Jeff Abernathy

Candy Ramous

Jui-Lung Chen

Park and Shea Win on Tiger Pool Tour

Posted by admin as Billiard Tour News - Tiger Planet Pool Tour

Park and Shea Win on Tiger Pool Tour
Tiger Pool Tour / Sterling, VA

by Ceci Strain

The Tiger Pool Tour returned after a short summer break to First Break Café in Sterling, VA, August 25-26. The open division started off strong with a full 64-player field, but at the end of the weekend, Shin Park was the last man standing. In the women’s division, 15 players showed up, with Linda Shea taking top honors.
Most notably in Sunday’s final 16 was fifteen year-old Richard “The Kid” Barney from Hagerstown, MD. Barney met with an early placement into the elimination bracket with a 9-6 loss to Shawn Putnam in the second round on Saturday. The early loss didn’t faze “The Kid,” as he won his next matches until being eliminated by Mike Davis 7-3.

Park faced Larry Kressel on Sunday morning and sent him to the elimination round with a win of 9-4, just in time to meet up with tour regular Jerry Slivka. Though Park took a strong 6-1 lead, he missed the 6 ball in the eighth rack, and Slivka came back like a whirlwind to take the match 9-8.

Continuing In the elimination bracket, Shawn Putnam and Park continued to please the crowd by again bringing their matches to the hill. Shaun “Get Some” Wilkie was victorious over Putnam 7-6, and Park battled Davis to continue on with a win of 7-6. In the hot seat match, Slivka and Francisco Diaz seemed to be playing a speed pool match as they quickly ran through their games. Slivka had an early lead, and after a short trade-off in the middle of the set, he finally closed it out with a win of 9-5, sending Diaz over to the elimination bracket to wait for his next opponent.

Park methodically ran rack after rack against Wilkie in the quarterfinals, defeating him 7-2. He then moved on to the semifinals against road partner Diaz, and again he methodically defeated Diaz 7-5 for the opportunity to match up again with Slivka. However, because of a scheduling conflict, Slivka had to forfeit the final round to Park.

The one-day women’s event saw tour regular Cheryl Squire gain a notable win of 7-2 early in the day against current point’s winner, My-Hanh Lac, and a win over Sharon O’Hanlon 7-4 to reach the hot seat match against Linda Shea. Shea moved through the winners’ bracket and sent Kathleen Lawless to the elimination bracket 7-3.

The hot seat match in the ladies’ event was a close one, but Squire advanced with a final score of 7-5. Tina Meraglio, who had returned from a pool hiatus, had worked her way through the elimination bracket after a first-round loss and met up with Lawless in the quarterfinals. Meraglio was determined to move on to the semifinals and won the match 5-1. Shea wasn’t prepared to lose the tournament, and seemed determined as she practiced on another table straight through the quarterfinals. She was ready and quickly defeated Meraglio, moving on for a rematch against Squire.

In the single race-to-9 finals, Shea took a strong lead of 8-2 against Squire but didn’t close the door completely. Squire managed to fight back for a few more games before Shea finished the match with a win of 9-5.
Visit InsidePOOL for the latest news on the sport of billiards and pool.

Hatch Dominates Tiger Pool Tour

Posted by admin as Billiard Tour News - Tiger Planet Pool Tour

Hatch Dominates Tiger Pool Tour

Tiger Pool Tour / Sterling, VA
by Rick Davis
A stacked field of 61 players came out for the Tiger Pool Tour, which held its ninth event at First Break Café in Sterling, VA, over the July 21-22 weekend. Top national players, previous event winners, and other dangerous entities swarmed the event, but Dennis “The Hatchet Man” Hatch recovered from a loss to best the field.
Action on the winners’ side included a who’s who of tour players. Hatch made his way through three rounds before falling to Chuck Altomare 9-5, who was sent west as well by Matt Clatterbuck in the next round. Clatterbuck, who has taken three top-three finishes including a win, was now in the hot seat match. On the other end of the board Mike Davis fell just short and was defeated by tournament director Andy Lincoln 9-5, but Lincoln was denied also as Shaun “Get Some” Wilkie, who has also taken three top-three finishes, slipped by 9-7 to take his seat in the hot seat match. Wilkie and Clatterbuck inched along, but in the end it was Clatterbuck who had the endurance for the 9-6 win.
On the one-loss side the cream was certainly rising to the top. Hatch took a trio of wins, including a 7-1 slap against Lincoln, to reach the quarterfinals. Nearby, Ryan McCreesh was on a comeback, taking six left-side wins, including the elimination of Davis 7-4, but was then upset just shy of the quarterfinals by Chuck Altomare 7-3.
The handful of remaining matches blazed through as Hatch eliminated Altomare 7-5 in the quarterfinals, then Wilkie 7-3 in the semifinals, to reclaim his seat at the finals. Hatch and Clatterbuck put on a good show from the amassing crowd, but the top pro, Hatch, was too much for the top tour player and defeated him to claim the title.
Results:
1st Dennis Hatch
2nd Matt Clatterbuck
3rd Shaun Wilkie
4th Chuck Altomare
5th Ryan McCreesh
Andy Lincoln
7th Jeremy Sossei
Bob Begey