The Lone Star Tour’s amateur 9-ball division witnessed Houston’s own Marvin Diaz making his mark on tour, capturing the hot seat over Sonny “The Boss” Bosshamer, earning his first title in the second set of the true double elimination final, 5-3. Ernesto Bayaua took the open 9-ball division by storm, going undefeated, eclipsing Chase Rudder in the final, 9-7. There were 64 competitors at the inaugural 2014 Lone Star Billiards Tour 9-ball event, held on January 25th-26th, 2014 at Bogies Billiards in Houston, Texas. On Sunday, January 26th, there were an additional 23 female contenders who attended the WPBA sanctioned Gulf Coast Women’s Regional Tour 9-ball event, events which have now become “side-by-sides” with the Lone Star Tour offering competition weekends with a little something for everyone.
A vast number of Lone Star Tour players have witnessed drastic improvement in their games through consistent billiard competition. One case in point, Steve Williams finished his best ever (5th-6th) in this past weekend’s 58 player, amateur 9-ball field, reaching the final four winners’ side defeating Rich Rodriguez, Chuck Adams, and Yoko Joe along the way. Tour veteran Sonny Bosshamer waded through Richard Hernandez, Jerry Yang, and J.J. Manley. Contender Bobby Perez took down Jeff Kay, Alex Cardenas, and T.J. Klein while Marvin Diaz made quick work of Will Felder, Lupe Sanchez, and Brian Rosenbaum. Bosshamer defeated Williams, 7-4, and Perez fell to Diaz, 7-6. Diaz overcame Bosshamer in the hot seat match, 7-3. On the one loss side, after losing his third round match to Manley, Jonathan Poon won 6 consecutive matches, including a 5-3 win over Williams, while Daniel Herring lost his first match and won an incredible 8 straight matches to face off with Poon for a shot at third place. Poon lost to Herring, 5-3, and in turn was eliminated by Bosshamer, 5-2. Diaz was determined to take down his first win however Bosshamer had other plans. Bosshamer captured the first set, 7-4, but Diaz remained steadfast and determined, defeating Bosshamer in the second set, 5-3.
The open 9-ball division saw Bayaua annihilate a field of 41 players with wins over Erick Renteria, 9-5, and Victor Rojas, 9-5. Rudder had an impressive trek as well with wins over Justin Whitehead, 9-7, and Danny Lee, 9-3. Bayaua slid by Rudder in the hot seat match, 9-7, as the one loss side heated up with Marcus Flores winning an impressive 6 in a row after losing his first match to Yoko Joe. College Station’s Khahn Nguyen came on strong after a first round defeat at the hands of Brian Rosenbaum, winning 5 straight sets until he met his fate with Whitehead, 7-4. Lee eliminated Flores, 7-1, and in turn was sent packing by Whitehead, 7-5. Rudder made quick work of Whitehead, 7-1, but fell to Bayaua in the final, 9-7.
Special congratulations to junior billiard competitor Joey Bourgeois, Jr., on his top 16 finish in the 58 player, amateur field.
This year, each Lone Star Tour open division event will be a qualifier for the 2014 Space City Open, held December 4th-7th. Each open division winner will receive a “free” Space City Open 9-ball entry valued at $75.
The Lone Star Tour would like to thank its sponsors, Poison by Predator cues www.poisonbilliards.com (official cue), Delta-13 rack www.delta-13.com (official rack) www.OzoneBilliards.com, www.ImproveYourShot.com, and the APA of North Harris County. For more information, please visit www.LoneStarBilliardsTour.com.
