The Planet Pool Tour returned to Rockville on June 3/4th for event 5 of the 9 ball tour. The host room was the former Champions now known as Winston Billiards Cafe. The new room owners had the tables in perfect playing conditions for this popular player venue. The 52 player field included a few IPT qualifier contestants from a nearby event in Frederick.
Saturday evening held a few high profile matches. Local tour star Kevin West defeated Cliff Joyner from Texas 9-7. North Carolinian BJ Ussery took down the current tour points leader Josh Brothers 9-6. Visiting players Ron Park and Keith Bennett joined their Carolina colleague on the winner side going into Sunday. Filling out the final eight were Jerry Slivka, Larry Kressel, Stacey Sudler and Richard Keefe.
On Sunday, Ussery and Kressel played their way into the hot seat match. This contest turned out to be anything but stellar with Ussery coming out on top 9-6. In the elimination bracket, Cliff Joyner was completely in gear. He cruised through Winston house pro Rob Palucho, Mike Champagne, Stacey Sudler, Josh Brothers and Keith Bennett. A rematch with Kevin West went to Joyner 7-4. A quick 7-1 over Kressel put Joyner into the final race to 11 with Ussery. This match featured very few mistakes by either player. Ussery was victorious 11-8 for his first Tiger Tour title of 2006. 1st was worth $1100 with $720 for 2nd.
A strong field of 16 ladies entered the Sunday Women's division. The final four on the winner side were as strong as ever on this tour: Pamela Treadway, Liz Ford, Sueyen Rhee and My-Hanh Lac. All four ladies recently played in the EnjoyPool.com 9-Ball Championships in Las Vegas, NV. WPBA tour regulars Ford and Rhee edged out Treadway and Lac 7-5 and 7-4 respectively. The hot seat match between the two friends went to Rhee 7-5. Treadway dispatched Tina Meraglio 5-2, Lac 5-0 and Ford 5-3 to earn the right to play in the finals. The single race to 9 games showed Rhee mostly in control coming out on top 9-4 for the win. 1st paid $400 with $270 for 2nd.
Complete Results
1 $1100 BJ Ussery
2 $720 Cliff Joyner
3 $500 Larry Kressel
4 $330 Kevin West
5/6 $200 Keith Bennett, Pooky Rasmeloungon
7/8 $140 Josh Brothers, Nick Prinsloo
9/12 $90 Stacey Sudler, Jerry Slivka, Richard Keefe, Ron Park
9 ball Women's Division
1 $400 Sueyen Rhee
2 $270 Pamela Treadway
3 $180 Liz Ford
4 $120 My-Hanh Lac
