Gus Briseno, Dan Bowman and Jay Grant
The two competitors who faced each other in a true double-elimination final this past weekend (Feb. 17-18) at Stop #2 on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour had, between them, registered only four ‘payout’ appearances on the tour since 2021. With the eventual winner, Jay Grant, sitting in the hot seat and the eventual runner-up, Dan Bowman, winner of a stop on the tour in 2022, waiting to play the semifinals, both of them were watching and awaiting the arrival of last year’s tour champion, Gus Briseno.
Say what you will regarding the fact that as a competitor, your job is about ‘playing the table, not your opponent,’ it’s just hard to imagine that they weren’t assessing the strength of their opponent, when it was last year’s tour champion, coming at them near the tail end of what proved to be an eight-match, loss-side winning streak. They could ‘take heart’ in knowing that Briseno had been sent to the loss side in the first place (second round) and that he’d almost been eliminated by Tim Larson (one of the top five competitors during the 2023 season) in a double-hill battle.
Well, as it turned out, only Bowman had to worry about Briseno, in the semifinals. Grant, as it also turned out, had to worry about Bowman, whom he’d defeated in the hot seat match and who came back from downing Briseno in the semifinals to take the first set of the double-elimination final. Grant came back strong in the second set and claimed his first recorded regional tour title at the 2nd stop on the 2024 Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour, which had drew 80 entrants to Stixx & Stones in Lewisville, TX.
In spite of his short list of recorded cash finishes and the absence of an event win, Grant was racing to 8 throughout the event; Briseno was racing to 9 and Bowman was racing to 6. Someone knew or had seen something that suggested a strength undetectable by looking at Grant’s recorded career at the tables. You don’t get to play as an ‘8’ on a regional tour without evidence of some skill and experience. All but one of Grant’s opponents (Tim Larson) in his six-match march to the hot seat match began their matches with a single ‘bead on the wire’ in the races to 8. None of them got close to the ‘7’ they needed to defeat him. Not Fahad Alrawi (1), Steven Adkins (3), Neil Sidawi (3), or Larson, to the 9 he needed (6). Grant then downed Johnny Cinco Garcia (2) to draw Jimmy Fujimori in one of the winners’ side semifinals.
Bowman, in the meantime (racing to 6), opened his campaign with two straight shutouts, over Harold Woody Paine (racing to 7) and Vincent Hernandez (racing to 5) before Keith Diaz (racing to 5) gave him a run for his money with a double-hill battle. And then, Amos Bush (racing to 8) battled him to double hill as well. Bowman then advanced to down Jason Borroel (2) and draw Greg Sandifer in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Grant sent Fujimori to the loss side 8-5, as Bowman was busy sending Sandifer over 6-4. Grant claimed the hot seat 8-3 over Bowman and waited on the return of either him or Briseno from the semifinals. Either way, it likely gave him something to think about.
On the loss side, Briseno was six matches into his loss-side winning streak, the last three of which, vs. Cameron Cummings, Jason Borroel and Tim Larson, had gone double hill, when he came up against Fujimori. Sandifer arrived on the loss side to pick up Garcia, who’d followed his loss to Grant with victories over Mark Johnson 7-5 and Mike Pickering 7-4.
Briseno made short work of Fujimori, advancing to the quarterfinals 9-2. Garcia made even shorter work of Sandifer, shutting him out to join Briseno. Briseno barely made it out of the quarterfinal against Garcia, winning it, double hill. He didn’t make it out of the double-hill semifinal against Bowman, whose handicap (three beads ‘on the wire’ in a race to 9) served him well, allowing him to advance to the finals with a 6-8 win.
Bowman’s ‘edge’ continued to serve him well in the finals versus Grant. With two ‘on the wire’ in a race to 8, he and Grant tied for actual racks-won at 6-6, but Bowman’s handicap gave him the first-set win. He’d have needed a lot more than just ‘two on the wire’ in the second set, as Grant slammed the second-set door quickly, allowing Bowman just a single rack and claiming his first (recorded) event title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Stixx & Stones, along with title sponsor Cuetec Cues, Fort Worth Billiards Superstore and Rasson Billiards. The next stop on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for the weekend of March 23-24, will be hosted by Rusty’s Billiards in Fort Worth, TX.
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