Chau and Cowan top Tiger Tour Stop

The tour returned to Champions Billiards in Arlington, VA April 12/13th for the 3rd stop of the 2008 season. This was a $2500 added weekend made possible by the room owners and the tour sponsors. This included a much coveted WPBA qualifier spot for the women's event for an upcoming event in Charlotte, NC. 9 out of the top 10 on the Open Division points list were in attendance and several strong women players were ready to stake their claim to the qualifying spot.

Last event's winner Manuel Chau started his day out in typical fashion with yet another early round match up with bitter rival Matt Clatterbuck. This match went hill-hill with Chau taking the win 9-8. Chau continued on with a pair of 9-2 wins to reach the final 4 winner side returning on Sunday. Current points' leader Brandon Shuff won his 3 matches with little fanfare. Joining these two players were Eric Moore and Richard Keefe.

Sunday play included Chau edging out Moore 9-7 and Shuff cruising past Keefe 9-3. The hot seat match with Shuff and Chau did not disappoint with Shuff taking a 9-8 win. In the elimination bracket, Shaun Wilkie recovered from a first round loss to Josh Brothers to win eight consecutive matches. Ryan McCreesh put a stop to that run 7-3 placing Wilkie into the 4th spot. Chau quickly took care of McCreesh 7-0 to set up a rematch with Shuff. The single race to 11 final between Chau and Shuff favored Chau who took the match comfortably 11-6. 1st paid $1000 with $720 for 2nd.

Seventeen ladies entered the Sunday's women event hoping to claim the WPBA qualifier. The winner of the previous two tour stops, Ming Ng, ran into a determined Rachel Eliazar and fell 7-5 in her first match of the day. Eliazar continued on to the hot seat match with convincing 7-0 and 7-2 wins over Ji-Hyun Park and Cheryl Squire. Linda Shea won the top half of the bracket to meet up with Eliazar. Shea continued on with a 7-4 win.

The elimination bracket held the lead tournament story as newcomer Katie Cowan bounced back from an early loss to Sherry Pouncey. After four wins, Cowan was matched up with Ng. Cowan escaped this match 5-4 to place Ng into the 4th spot. A quick 5-1 win over Eliazar put Cowan into the single race to nine final with Shea. Cowan continued to roll establishing a 5-1 lead. A coffee timeout by Shea proved fruitful as she stormed back to tie it up at 6-6. The next few games went back and forth but it was Cowan taking the 9-8 win. The $400 cash for first place came with the added $500 WPBA qualifying spot. This will be an extra special WPBA event for Cowan as it is being held in her hometown of Charlotte, NC.

Results (open):
1st Manuel Chau $1000
2nd Brandon Shuff $720
3rd Ryan McCreesh $460
4th Shaun Wilkie $320
5th/6th Eric Moore/Richard Keefe $220
7th/8th Larry Kressel/Matt Douglas
9th-12th Shane Jackson/Paul Adolini/Matt Clatterbuck/Joey Ryan $100
13th-16th Shawn Toni/Brian Deska/Chris Futrell/Danny Mastermaker $65

Results (women):
1st Katie Cowan $400
2nd Linda Shea $275
3rd Rachel Eliazar $175
4th Ming Ng $120
5th/6th Cheryl Squire/Chanta Kry $65