Tyler Borden
Tyler Borden, 18, has probably played in his last tournament racing to 4 against his opponents. He entered this past weekend’s (Sat., April 8) stop on the PremierBilliards.com’s Q City 9-Ball Tour that way and lost only a single match, the first set of the event’s true double elimination final. He did it against a field of 21 other entrants that contained a substantial list of competitors with numerous tour wins on their resume; like DJ Brads, whom he faced in the hot seat match and Scott Roberts, who handed him his only loss in that first set of the finals. Borden chalked up his first (recorded) regional tour win at the $500-added event that was hosted by The Clubhouse in Lynchburg, VA.
Borden advanced through the field to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal against Travis Guerra (another of those previous winners on the tour). DJ Brads, in the meantime, sent Scott Roberts to the loss side 7-6 (Roberts racing to 8) in one of the winners’ side quarterfinals to pick up Larry Hughes (last year’s tour champion) in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Borden downed Guerra 4-4 (Guerra racing to 6) and was joined in the hot seat match by Brads, who’d defeated Hughes 7-4. Borden claimed the hot seat 4-4 (Brads racing to 7) and waited for Roberts to complete his five-match, loss-side winning streak.
Roberts had followed his loss to Brads with victories over Daniel Adams 8-3 and James Boddy, double hill, to pick up Guerra. Hughes drew Colin Hall, who’d survived two straight double-hill matches against Nick Call and Travis Shelton to reach him.
Roberts and Hall handed Guerra and Hughes their second straight loss; Roberts, 8-3 over Guerra and Hall, double hill over Hughes. Roberts punched his ticket to a semifinal rematch against Brads with an almost-double-hill victory over Hall 8-5.
With Roberts giving up a rack in the semifinal race to 8, he allowed Brads only a single, actual rack in the match and turned his attention to Borden in the finals. Roberts took the opening set of the true double elimination final the same way, allowing Borden only a single rack in his race to 4. The ‘tables turned’ in the second set. Borden shut Roberts out 4-0 to claim the event title.
Tournament director Herman Parker thanked Chris England and his Clubhouse staff for their hospitality, along with title sponsor PremierBilliards.com, BarPoolTables.net, Dirty South Grind Apparel Co., Realty One Group Results, Diamond Brat, AZBilliards.com, Federal Savings Bank Mortgage Division and TKO Custom Cues. The next stop on the Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend (April 15-16), will be a $500-added event, hosted by West End Billiards in Gastonia, NC.
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