The Viking Cue 9-Ball Tour held two events over the weekend, one at The Green Room in N. Aurora, Illinois and the other at Snookers' Billiards in Cincinnati, Ohio.
In Cincinnati, Shawn Putnam waded through a field of 68 players to win the event. Putnam lost to Adam Smith from Toledo on Saturday but made his way back through the one-loss side to get to the finals. His opponent in the finals was Don Wells, who put in his best tournament so far. Wells defeated Joe Brown 7-0 to take the hot-seat, but couldn't handle Putnam in the finals.
Putnam won the first set of the double elimination finals 7-2 and looked on his way to another lopsided victory in the second set. Putnam led 6-1 in the final set before Wells won four games. Putnam got the final win 7-5.
Putnam won $1060 for first, while Wells settled for $650 for second. Brown and Ryan Zigler filled out the top four spots.
Meanwhile, at the Green Room, Jamie Baraks also bounced back from the one-loss side for the tournament win. Baraks lost to Larry Nevel 7-2 for the hot-seat, but defeated Arizona's Andy Scott in the semi-finals to set up the rematch with Nevel in the finals.
James played pure 'lights out' pool in the final matches against Nevel. Baraks came out of the gate in the first match with a 5-pack, before he scratched on the break in game six. Nevel ran the next two racks before he then scratched on the break and Baraks ran out the final two racks for the 7-2 win.
Baraks did not miss a beat as he came out in the second set with two 'break and run' wins. He then won a safety battle in the 3rd game and broke & ran the fourth rack. Nevel won the 5th rack, but Baraks won the next 3 games for the victory.
Baraks collected $1350 for first while Nevel settled for $840 in second place prize money. Scott and Sergio Perez took third and fourth. Willie Munson and Mike Moran tied for 5th-6th.
The Viking Cue 9-Ball Tour will be at Cue-Can-Do in Schaumburg, IL on October 4th - 5th.
Photo courtesy of Diana Hoppe - Pool Pics by Hoppe
