Jack Whitfield
The winner and runner-up at this past weekend’s (Sat., Oct. 21) stop on the PremierBilliards.com’s Q City 9-Ball Tour came into the event finals looking for their first regional tour win. Together, they had logged a total of nine cash payouts, exclusively on the Q City 9-Ball Tour and each, at one point, had finished as runner-up. Jack Whitfield, who went undefeated to claim the event title, recorded seven of those nine payouts, dating back to 2016 and logged his runner-up finish in 2019. Runner-up Glenn Weatherly, just getting started in his payout history, recorded both of his previous payouts this year, finishing as runner-up in June. Both of their runner-up finishes had been recorded at events hosted by Mickey Milligan’s in New Bern, where this past weekend’s $250-added event drew 22 entrants.
It took Whitfield six matches to claim the title. It took Weatherly 10 to finish as runner-up, at which point he’d won more loss-side matches (7) than Whitfield’s total of 6. When Whitfield advanced to the hot seat match against Robert Perez, he’d given up only five racks of the 33 he’d played to get there. Whitfield gave up one to his first opponent, Kalen Johnson and three to Larry Cheek, before running into the wife/husband team of Tracy and Shane Hardie. He gave up none at all to Tracy, and in a winners’ side semifinal, another (just) one to the husband, Shane.
Getting to the hot seat match was a little more challenging for Perez, who’d opened with a 6-2 win over Damien Brads and then, battled in two straight double-hill matches against Justin Ward and in a winners’ side semifinal, Frank Leahy. Whitfield defeated Perez 7-4 to claim the hot seat.
Over on the loss side, Weatherly was at work on his seven-match, loss-side winning streak, three of which would challenge him double hill. On the winners’ side, he’d defeated Greg Speight 5-3 before Chris Vollmar shut him out in the second round. The trip wasn’t easy, opening with a double-hill match against Joshua Connor. He shut out Daniel Sanchez, gave up three to Daniel Davis, two to long-time WPBA, J. Pechauer Northeast Women’s Tour and Super Billiards Expo veteran Dawn Fox and picked up Shane Hardie, coming off of his loss to Whitfield. Leahy drew Damien Brads, who’d lost his second-round match to Perez and then won three on the loss side, including the elimination of Tracy Hardie and Chris Vollmar, both 7-2.
Weatherly got his second, double-hill challenge of his loss-side trip from Shane Hardie. He sent the other half of the Hardie family home and in the quarterfinals, faced Leahy, who’d defeated Brads 6-4.
Weatherly’s third and final double-hill match came in the quarterfinals. He defeated Leahy 5-5 (Leahy racing to 6) and then gave up just a single rack to Perez in the semifinals.
If digitalpool.com’s bracket information for this event is correct, Whitfield, who’d claimed the hot seat at just after 11 p.m. on Saturday, had to wait for just over three hours before the final match got underway. Weatherly on the other hand had lost his winners’ side match just after 5 p.m. on Saturday and came into the finals after almost nine hours at the tables, chalking up his semifinal victory at 1:50 a.m. on Sunday.
The final match didn’t resolve the question of whether loss-side momentum or quiet contemplation and relaxed periods of practice are the deciding factor in a match that features two opponents looking for their first regional tour win. It did, however, suggest that contemplation and practice for three hours, trumps nine straight hours at the tables. Whitfield completed his undefeated run with a 7-2 win in the finals and claimed his first (recorded) regional tour win.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked Jacob and Kayla Corley and their Mickey Milligan’s staff for their hospitality, along with title sponsor PremierBilliards.com, Bar PoolTables.net, Realty One Group Results, TKO Custom Cues (Kirk Overcash), Dirty South Grind Apparel Company (Angela Harlan-Parker), Diamond Brat (Tonya Crosby), Federal Savings Bank/Mortgage division (Alex Narod) and AZBilliards.
The next stop on the PremierBilliards.com’s Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend (Oct. 28-29), will be a $500-added event, hosted by Breaktime Billiards in Winston-Salem, NC.
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