Getting ‘back into the swing of things’ at a pool table can be tricky. It is most assuredly not as simple as re-learning how to ride a bike, and the greater distance between a player’s ‘then and now,’ the more difficult the return. This past weekend (Sat., Nov. 9), two veteran competitors on the PremierBilliards.com’s Q City 9-Ball Tour, DJ Brads and JT Ringgold, took different paths to the finals of a $250-added event that drew 28 entrants to Mickey Milligan’s in New Bern, NC. They opted out of a final match and split the top two prizes.
Damien (DJ) Brads, who’s only been recording cash finishes on the tour since 2022 and whose best year was his first, has been on something of a downward appearance and earnings spiral since that time. His first recorded, and only cash payout in 2022 was a March victory he earned by winning eight on the loss side and double-dipping Greg Taylor in the final. Just shy of a year later (Feb., ’23), Brads would win his second stop on the tour, this time setting a tour record by winning 12 straight matches, 10 on the loss side and two in a double-elimination final against the tour’s second-most prolific winner, JT Ringgold (BJ Ussery holds the ‘most’ title). At this past weekend’s event, Brads opted for a different (winners’ side) route to the (official) winners’ circle by sending Ringgold to the loss side in the second round.
Ringgold’s (AZB) history on varied tours in the Mid-Atlantic region dates back to just over a decade ago (2023), when he was making appearances (and winning) on the Great Southern Billiard Tour. His earnings kept going up to a pinnacle in 2018, when he cashed in 15 events, winning four of them; three on the Q City 9-Ball Tour and one on the Action Pool Tour’s 2018 season finale. Since that time, although he would record 12 cash finishes the following year, including a single win on the Q City 9-Ball Tour, his earnings have been on a downward swing, too. His earnings took a major swing in the other direction this year, as he’s chalked up three wins (including the shared win this past weekend) on the Q City 9-Ball Tour. According to Q City 9-Ball Tour director, Herman Parker, who responded to Ringgold’s relative absence from competition by lowering his ‘rank’ down to 10 for this most recent event, he will be returning Ringgold’s rank to 11, making him ineligible for future competition on the handicapped Q City 9-Ball Tour.
So there they were, competitors and, in fact, friends, stepping up to the plate in a handicapped tournament, both in their own way attempting to get back into the ‘swing of things.’ Brads took a mighty ‘swing’ in his first ‘plate appearance’ (match) and shut out William Wallace. And then, he ran into Ringgold, who exposed him to a ‘full count’ (double hill) deciding game, which Brads won, advancing to defeat Eddie Almonte, Jr. 7-3. He then met and defeated William Dorsey 7-2 in a winners’ side semifinal and advanced to the hot seat match.
Meanwhile, Eddie Almonte, Sr., racing to 6, would begin and end his trip to the hot seat match with two shutouts, defeating Troy McSorley in the opening round and in the other winners’ side semifinal, Glenn Weatherly. He gave up only four racks, total in his middle matches versus Katlin Ward (1) and Jack Whitfield (3).
Almonte started the hot seat match with a single ‘bead on the wire’ in a race to 7 and could have used four more of them. Brads claimed the hot seat 7-2 and waited for Ringgold to complete his seven-match, loss-side winning streak. And he did wait. About an hour and a half, as it turned out.
Dorsey came over to the loss side and ran immediately into Ringgold, four matches into his loss-side streak which had recently eliminated Damon Kotke, by shutout, and Jack Whitfield 10-5. Weatherly picked up Triston Kotke (Damon’s son), who’d lost a winners’ side quarterfinal to Dorsey and defeated William Wallace 4-3 (Wallace racing to 5) and Chris McSorley 5-4 (McSorley racing to 6).
Ringgold defeated Dorsey 10-4, while Triston Kotke eliminated Weatherly 4-3 (Weatherly racing to 5). Ringgold gave up just three racks to Kotke in the quarterfinal that followed and just a single rack to Almonte, Sr. in the semifinals that followed that. Negotiations got underway between the two friends, both having affirmed their respectable efforts at getting back into the ‘swing of things.’
Tour director Herman Parker thanked Kayla and Jacob Corley, and their Mickey Milligan’s staff along with title sponsor PremierBilliards.com, digitalpool.com, BarPoolTables.net (Randy Tate), Breaktime Billiards in Winston-Salem, NC, TKO Custom Cues and Realty One Group results (Kirk Overcash), Dirty South Grind Apparel (Angela Harlan-Parker), Federal Savings Bank (Alex Narod), CHC Underground (Chris Clary), and AZBilliards.
Next up, on the PremierBilliards.com’s Q City 9-Ball Tour, will be a $250-added ($500 with 40+entrants) event, scheduled for this weekend (Nov. 16-17) and hosted by Action Billiards in Inman, SC.
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