Fast Eddie's - N. W. Military in San Antonio, TX. hosted the Fast Eddie's Olhausen 9 Ball Tour Sponsored by Schuler Legacy Cues 2005 Season Finale on December 2-4.
Sue Doyle of Olhausen Billiards was in attendance and we really enjoyed having her.
Top picks were Jui Lung Chen, Sylver Ochoa, Erman Bullard, David Henson, James Davis Jr. and Jason Pearce.
Finishing in the 9-12th placements were David Henson, Eduardo Ramirez, Paul Blank and Lewis Jones.
The 7-8th positions belonged to Bill Fuller and James Davis Jr. Both played hard.
Settling for 5-6th was Robert Newkirk and Charlie Mora. Both have played well all year.
Erman Bullard fought hard to overcome a 6-3 deficit and then go to the hill with Chen. On the hill, Chen broke and ran out, forcing Erman to a nice 4th place finish.
San Antonio's own Candy Ramos finished an impressive 3rd place, much to the crowd's delight. He started out with wins over Frank Cherry, 9-8, Destry Ensley, 9-3, Martin Salinas, 9-8, Bill Fuller, 9-3, and Jui Lung Chen, 9-8. In the finals of the winner's bracket, Robert Almaraz sent Candy to the west side, 9-6. This forced a rematch with Chen and Candy settled for a great 3rd place finish.
Meanwhile, Chen began with wins over King Drake, 9-2, Danny Almaraz, 9-7, Kenny Greer, 9-7, Paul Blank, 9-3, and was then derailed by Candy, 9-8. On the one loss side, Chen handled Erman, 7-6, and Candy, 7-4 to move into the finals.
Robert Almaraz through great play won the hot seat with victories over Daniel Perez, 9-2, Jon Rawlins, 9-4, Marc Garza, 9-4, Lewis Jones, 9-4, Erman Bullard, 9-8, and Candy Ramos, 9-6.
This set the finals with Chen needing to win two consecutive sets. Chen played valiantly but Robert won the first set in a real nail biter, 9-8. Chen, again, showed what a fine gentleman he is on and off the table.
Robert is a working man who doesn't play much anymore, but found his focus this weekend and was winging in balls from everywhere. He played very well.
Preceding the finals was an awards ceremony recognizing the Tour sponsors, the player of the year, best attendance in both the open and ladies divisions.
Olhausen Billiards has donated an Eclipse model pool table for every Season Finale since the Tour started three years ago and this year is was no exception showing again why Olhausen is 'The Best in Billiards'. Each qualified entrant in the Season Finale was given tickets for each event which they had played in during the regular season and everyone wanted to win the table!
Schuler Legacy Cues donated one of their beautiful creations, a $700 custom cue, to be given away also.
Both Olhausen Billiards and Schuler Legacy Cues are just fantastic people who will continue to sponsor the Tour in 2006.
Playing a very vital part of the Tour are Ron Geyer of The Custom Cue Connection, Jack and Elvie Kompan of Mystick Cues, Schonne of Cue Sales & Service, Tino Lopez of Teodora's Mini-Tacos, Joe Salazar of The Connoisseur of Custom Cues, Martin Salinas of Alamo City Couriers, Robby Timms of Cues, Inc. and new sponsor of the Tour, Royce Bunnell of OB-1 Cue Shafts. Great people, one and all!
For Best Attendance-Ladies division was Helen Hayes who participated in ten events. The Best Attendance-Open division went Robert Newkirk who made every event this year and is a true friend to the Tour.
Player of the Year-Ladies division went Amanda Lampert. Player of the Year-Open division went to Sylver Ochoa. Both players showed a lot of heart and shot great all year!
As Sue Doyle of Olhausen Billiards drew the winning ticket for the pool table, you could have heard a pin drop. The winning ticket belonged to Kawania Watson of San Antonio. To say the least, Kawania was very excited and grateful!
A huge thanks to Fast Eddie's Billiards, Mark Lewis, Chris Delgado and their staff for hosting a great event!
Well, another year has come and gone, so, get ready for next year, as our first event will be in Houston at the Fuqua location and January 21-22! Until then, happy holidays and keep knocking the backs out of those pockets!
1st Robert Almaraz $2700
2nd Jui Lung Chen $1765
3rd Candy Ramos $1220
4th Erman Bullard $750
5-6th Robert Newkirk, Charlie Mora $525
7-8th Bill Fuller, James Davis Jr. $160
9-12th Eduardo Ramirez, David Henson, Lewis Jones, Paul Blank $100
