Roman Bayda, Clint Freeman andT.J. Davis
It was, to say the least, a long, busy weekend. Beginning on Thursday, Dec. 10 and culminating on Sunday, Dec. 13, the 5th Annual Royce Bunnell Memorial Tournament played host to four separate events. The $2,000-added (total) event drew 16 players to a One Pocket tournament on Thursday, a 32-player 8-ball event and a 13-entrant Ring Game on Friday. By far the largest of the four events, a 58-player 9-ball event, began on Saturday and concluded on Sunday, Dec. 13.
The event was directed by David “Doc” Reyes, who, for nine years, worked for Royce Bunnell during his tenure as the CEO of OB Cues. Reyes has run this event since its inception in December, 2015, less than a month after Bunnell had died of a heart attack at the age of 49. Bunnell, in addition to his innovations and general advocacy of the pool industry was a friend to many and is missed by as many, to whom he was a mentor and friend.
Jeff Sullivan went undefeated through four opponents to win the single-elimination One Pocket tournament on Thursday. Jim Ryan won six matches against five opponents to go undefeated in the 8-Ball event, while Clint Freeman won seven matches against seven opponents to claim the 9-Ball title. Gerardo Perez won Friday night’s Ring game.
In races to 3, Jeff Sullivan and Roman Bayda worked their way through two opponents to arrive at the two semifinal matches. Sullivan had defeated Tom Barnett and Walt Anderson to face Corey Flud in one semifinal. Bayda had downed Robert Kempf and Daniel Herring and faced Gerardo Perez in the other semifinal. Sullivan advanced to the finals 3-1 over Flud, as Bayda and Perez battled to a deciding 5th game, won by Bayda. Sullivan put a bit of an exclamation point on his winning of the One Pocket title by shutting Bayda out in the final.
In the double-elimination 8-ball event, which also featured races to 3 and commenced on Friday, Jim Ryan got by Tony Solis, Clinton Mayo and Moe Harbaji to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal against TJ Davis. Daniel Herring had defeated Doug Winnet, Jason Judd, and Jamel Wordlaw to square off against Jason McKenzie in the other winners’ side semifinal. Ryan and Herring advanced to the hot seat match; Herring, 3-1 over McKenzie and Ryan, double hill over Davis. Ryan won a second straight double hill match, downing Herring to claim the hot seat.
Davis would return from a three-match, loss-side trip to face Ryan a second time in the finals. It proved to be Ryan’s third straight double hill victory and it earned him the 8-ball title.
In the 58-player, 9-Ball event, Roman Bayda made a bid for his appearance in a second final. He failed, however, to make it back from the semifinals and had to settle for 3rd place in 9-ball. The runner-up in the 8-ball tourney, TJ Davis, did make a second appearance in a final. He had to win nine loss-side matches to get to the final before being relegated to his second runner-up finish by Clint Freeman.
Freeman got by Mohammed Alrawi, Mark Lawson, Tony Top, and Shan Iyer to draw Clint Palaci in his winners’ side semifinal. Bayda, in the meantime, who’d started his campaign off with a double hill win over Dario Gomez, went on to defeat Alberto Nieto, Travis Landsdowne, and Doug Winnet to draw Lance Schofield in his winners’ side semifinal.
Bayda sent Schofield to the loss side 7-4. He was joined in the hot seat match by Freeman, who’d defeated Palaci 7-5. Freeman claimed the hot seat 7-3 over Bayda and waited for TJ Davis to complete his nine-match, loss-side streak.
That loss side streak was going well (six down, three to go) when Davis, following 7-4 wins over Crispian Ng and Doug Winnet, ran into Palaci. Schofield drew Shan Iyer, who’d recently survived a double hill fight over Steve Lenz and then eliminated the One Pocket winner, Jeff Sullivan, 7-4. Iyer survived a second double hill fight, over Schofield, and advanced to the quarterfinals. Davis joined him after downing Palaci 7-2.
Davis used back-to-back 7-3 wins over Iyer in the quarterfinals and Bayda in the semifinals for his second shot at a title. Freeman denied him with a 7-4 win in the finals that gave him the 9-ball title.
“Doc” Reyes thanked the ownership and staff at the Billiards Den for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Fort Worth Billiards Superstore, Doc’s Billiards Office, JB Cases, Dallas 8-Ball, Outsville Accu-Rack, OB Cues, John Eagle Honda, and Action 903 for the live stream.
Editors Note: Consider this report to be preliminary, featuring specific highlights of the four events held over the past weekend. We’re continuing to talk to participants and organizers of this 5th Annual event, honoring the late Royce Bunnell and all of the influence and friendship he brought to bear on the pool industry during his tenure with OB Cues. A more comprehensive report, to include commentary from some of the individuals whose lives he touched, will be found in the first 2021 edition of THE BILLIARDS BUZZ, to be published the first week in January.
