 David Gutierrez |
Fast Eddies Olhausen 9-Ball Tour sponsored by Schuler Legacy cues began its fifth season January 20, 2007 in Houston at the Fast Eddies South Gulf Freeway location.
The first stop of the year included 68 in the open division and 18 in the ladies. As usual the field was tough and everyone seemed focused on playing good pool in 2007.
The top picks in the Open Division were Rafael Martinez, Charlie Bryant, David Gutierrez, Javier Franco, Sylver Ochoa, and last year's Player of the Year Jui Lung Chen.
Finishing 13-16 were Eugene Browning, Rick Stanley, Bill Fuller, and Dalton Riley. Each played very well.
Filling the 9-12 positions were Schonn Ballew Manual Ayala, Javier Franco, and David Estep. Nice job to each.
The 7-8th spots belonged to Robert Stewart of Waco TX. and Charlie “Hillbilly” Bryant of Houston. Both are fine players and previous Winners on the Tour. Both turned in fine showings this weekend as well.
Filling the ever elusive 5-6th spots were Sylver Ochoa, the “young gun” from McAllen Texas and Rene Rendon of Houston. Both of these fellas play real well and are always exciting to watch. Both are an asset to any event. Great shooting.
Young David Parker of Houston settled for 4th place and played a very fine tournament. David is a young man with lots of talent and potential. We will hear from him again.
The 2006 Player of the Year Jui Lung Chen finished in 3rd place and as always captivated many with his fast and loose style of play. Pocketing balls is just another walk in the park to Chen and it intimidates many. Chen will be in the running for Player of the Year again and many will bet on it. Congratulations.
The finals were set as David Gutierrez had won the hot seat. David is playing very solidly. He was going to need everything he could muster as rafael Martinez was playing quite well himself.
The finals were a race to 9 and rafael was firing them in with his loose style and it looked as if the first set was decided by the fourth game with rafael leading 4-0. An errant break led to David completing a very nice run out and getting on the board. Then David's break proved dry and rafael led 5-1 and eventually, 6-2. In 9-ball, and with players of this caliber, anything can happen as one shot can turn a whole match. This was a little different as neither missed a ball and played nice safeties David returned each safety, made every bank, and pocketed each ball with daring confidence and brought the score to 6-6.
They then traded games till the match was hill-hill. David broke, made a ball, and left himself hooked on the one with no choice but to push out for a long one rail kick on the one. It was agonizing, but there seemed to be little choice. Rafael passed the shot to David and he missed, giving Rafael ball in hand with a fairly routine out.
It looked like a walk in the park for the seasoned and legendary Rafael when he came up a little tricky on the five which cause him to come up short on a six in the side. He loaded up with inside english on the six, made it, but got a little long on the seven. Rafael tried to slice the seven and hold the cue ball, but, hung it up. Everyone let out a collective sigh as David got out and captured the win. It was a good Finals match and both played very well.
Congratulations to Rafael on a fine second place finish and a fine tournament. The man is truly a Legend.
David G played a superb tournament and really earned this one. He is playing very, very well. Congratulations.
Again, thank you to Olhausen Billiards and Shuler Legacy Cues for their support and sponsoring the Tour again in 2007. Both are truly remarkable people.
Two things are very consistent with Fast Eddies Olhausen 9-Ball Tour sponsored by Schuler Legacy cues, Ron Geyer with The Custom Cue Connection and Jack Kompan of Mystick Cues. Their honor and integrity epitomize what this industry should be all about. Thank you both.
Rick and his staff at Fast Eddies Gulf Freeway location always do an outstanding job and we are appreciative of their enthusiasm.
Thank you to Fast Eddies. They make this possible. Pool is better for it.
We look forward to seeing all of you February 3-4th In San Antonio, at the NW Military location, it will be fun. For more information, call 210-367-4761.
