Rodney Morris
The Mezz West State Tour headed south to beautiful La Mesa, CA, right outside San Diego for stop #4 of their 17 event season. A very strong field of 94 players made the trek to compete in the $2000 added 10 ball event and the field was littered with pros and amateurs alike.
Leading the top half of the bracket was Mexican champion, Ernesto Dominguez with solid wins over Jay Beatty, Paul Langley, Anthony Ortega, Joey Chin, Henry Brodt, and Victor Ignacio all the way to the hot seat match. The 60 year old veteran showed his experience and grinded his way each match with solid safety play and decision-making skills.
Meanwhile, on the bottom half of the bracket, San Diego pro Victor Ignacio took full advantage of his home court by defeating some very solid MWST regulars such as; Danny Gokhul, Beau Runningen, Ben Yumal, Attila Csorba, and Sal Butera until he ran out of gas against Dominguez for the hot seat.
While Ernesto and Victor slithered their way through the winners side, a very strong group of players grinded their way through the B bracket. Three pro players consisting of Beau Runningen, Vilmos Foldes, and Oscar Dominguez all lost early in the event until they all ran out of steam to end up in the 9-12 bracket for the event. 3rd place finisher from event #3, Attila Csorba kept his solid form with another strong finish, 7-8th with pool player turned poker player, Scott White. Former APA national champion, Henry Brodt displayed his experience and solid play with a very respectable finish in 5th place alongside Ben Yumul, filipino local sharpshooter. However, quietly stomping through the losers side was Sal Butera on the upper half and Rocket Rodney Morris on the south side. These two seasoned veterans played solid pool all weekend and it was unfortunate they met for the second time on the losers side to decide 4th place. After losing to Butera on the winners side, Rocket Rodney avenged his earlier loss with authority playing flawlessly winning 9-1.
The finals on the losers side was between hometown semi pro Victor Ignacio and Mosconi Cup legend, Rodney Morris. The match ended quickly in favor of the Rocket and at the end of the tunnel awaited senor Ernesto Dominguez. It was a battle of the veterans but too many early mistakes combined with Rodney's powerful break, Rodney ran away with the match with an 11-6 scoreline. This now makes Rodney the leader in the points department and marks his third victory of the 4 events held this season.
Also, a big congratulations to Brook Thomason for taking home the $100 top female bonus out of 6 female entrants.
The Mezz West State Tour would like to thank all their sponsors: Mezz Cues (Miki-Mezz.com), West State Billiard Supply (WestStateBilliards.com), Zan Tips (Zan-Tip.com), Taom Break/Jump Tips (TaomTips.com), Andy Cloth (AndyCloth.com), Ozzy Reynolds and CSI (PlayCSIPool.com), PiUs Company, So Cal Tap, Kurzweil Country Meats, fast&loose desgins (fastnloosedesigns.com), Contact Point Media, Turtle Rack, NYC Grind (NYCGrind.com) and AZ Billiards (AZBilliards.com).
We would also like to thank Clyde Norris, along with the entire On Cue Billiards staff for hosting the event. We would also like to thank all the players for coming out and supporting the tour.
