Daniel Adams
Daniel Adams, known far and wide as Papa John, came to Princeton, WV last weekend (Sat., Jan. 29, six hours of Sun., Jan. 30) and in a pair of battles versus junior competitor (until July) Cole Lewis, claimed the title to a stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. The $500-added event drew 43 entrants to Sonny’s Billiards in Princeton.
Adams and Lewis advanced through the field, headed for the hot seat and arrived at the winners’ side semifinals. Papa John faced Scott Largen while Lewis squared off against Sean McGrady.
Adams sent Largen to the loss side 6-3, as Lewis was busy doing likewise to McGrady 8-3. Adams claimed the hot seat 6-6 (Lewis racing to 8) and waited on his return.
On the loss side, Largen picked up Corey Morphew, who’d just completed two, wildly divergent matches to reach him. After surviving a double hill battle versus Ricky Bingham (9-5), Morphew shut Derek Bonds out 9-0. McGrady drew Mike Clevinger, who’d eliminated Hank Powell 7-6 (Powell racing to 8) and Robert McCoy, double hill.
Morphew and Clevinger kept Largen and McGrady’s visit to the loss side short, very short. Morphew downed Largen 9-2, as Clevinger eliminated McGrady 7-4. Both competitors in the quarterfinals that followed had been sent to the loss side by the same man, Keith Young, who’d defeated Clevinger in the 2nd round (first match for Clevinger) and Morphew in the third round. Young eliminated the possibility of a rematch against either of them by losing to Robert McCoy in the 9/12 matches.
Clevinger was ahead in the loss-side match wins (7-5) when the quarterfinals began. Morphew ended Clevinger’s loss-side winning streak 9-5 and then had his own streak of six loss-side wins stopped by Lewis 8-5 in the semifinals.
As dawn was working its way toward the eastern horizon, Papa John and junior competitor Cole Lewis locked up in a double hill fight that concluded, according to tour director Herman Parker, at around 6 a.m. on Sunday morning. Adams won his six racks in the only set of the true double elimination final necessary before Lewis had chalked up his eight. Adams claimed his first Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour title since he’d come from deep on the loss side to win an event at The Clubhouse in Lynchburg, VA almost five years ago (April, 2017).
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Sonny’s Billiards for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, BarPoolTables.net, Dirty South Grind Apparel Co., Realty One Group Results, Diamond Brat, AZBilliards.com, and Federal Savings Bank Mortgage Division.
The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend (Feb. 5-6) will be the $1,500-added, 1st Annual Winter Classic, to be hosted by Break Time Billiards and Sports Bar in Winston-Salem. In addition to a $1,000-added Open event, there will be a $500-added Ladies event.
It is the first in a series of seasonal Open events that Parker is adding to the tour’s 2022 schedule. Parker will duplicate the seasonal Open events at dates (to be determined) in the spring, summer and fall.
“We’ve been doing only three or four Open events per year,” said Parker, “but we’re looking to expand that to between 12-15 per year.”
“In addition to the seasonal classics,” he added, “they’ll include events like the Ron Park Memorial, the West Virginia state and North Carolina State championships.”
Stay tuned for further information as it becomes available regarding the upcoming Open events on the tour.
