Doug Beasley and Alex Calderon
Owners Rich Kuntz and Tammy Frampton welcomed players and fans to the legendary Brass Tap & Billiards in Raleigh, NC for the $15,000 added Beasley Open. Featuring both One pocket and nine ball divisions, this World Nineball Tour event allowed players to add their finishes to the nineball world rankings.
Drawing players from all over, Reyes Cup MVP Aloysius Yapp was there along with BCA Hall of Famers Johnny Archer and Rodney Morris. Reigning Buffalo’s Pro One Pocket and Scotty Townsend Memorial Nine Ball champ Roberto Gomez was spotted along with Alex Calderon, winner of Buffalo’s Pro Classic Nine Ball Championship. North Carolina State 9-Ball Champ BJ Ussery and Virginia Barbox 9-Ball champ Mike Davis was there as well as Battle of the Bull winner Billy Thorpe and his running mate, Sky Woodward – the Big Tyme Classic 9 Ball champ.
Hot off winning both the Canadian Ten Ball and Nine Ball Championships, John Morra was there as was Tony Chohan – this year’s Rack One Pocket Classic and Big Tyme Classic One Pocket champ. Josh Roberts, terror of the southeast’s Rack Race events, young gun Lukas Fracasso-Verner, the current Buffalo’s Pro Classic Open 9-Ball titlist and 2023 junior champ Landon Hollingsworth were there. Also in the room was Tyler Styer, current Midwest Billiards and Cue Expo 9-Ball winner and Chuck Markulis Memorial 9-Ball champ, 2024’s Music City Classic champ Jonathan Hennessee, Bulgaria’s Georgi Gorgiev and Venezuela’s Gregorio Sanchez.
Presented by Beasley Custom Cues, Brass Tap & Billiards and PoolActionTV.com, local sponsors included Dayco Manufacturing, Cup O Jane Lingerie Coffee Shop, C & A Automotive Equipment and Professional Billiards.
The $5,000 added one pocket event began on Tuesday evening with a players auction, meeting and draw. This event featured 27 players posting a $300 entry fee and was double elimination with races to three until down to the final eight players. From there it was single elimination with races to four.
With five byes on the board, Tony Chohan and John Morra weren’t so lucky. It was all Tony as he sent John west 3-0. Chohan sliced through Jeffrey Underwood 3-1, Hunter White 3-0 and Corey Sykes 3-1 before arriving at the hot seat match.
In the lower portion of the bracket, it was Alex Calderon who tore through Machine Cerna 3-0, Oliver Ruuger 3-2, Nathan Childress 3-0 and Roberto Gomez 3-2 on his way to the hot seat match.
Playing to get into the finals, Chohan smoked Calderon 3-0 to lock up his spot. Alex headed to the one loss side to await an opponent.
Emerging from the pack was fellow Houstonian, Roberto Gomez. Although they’ve played numerous times, it was Calderon who won again 3-1 putting him back in the finals! Roberto finished in third place.
The extended race to four saw Calderon drawing first blood 8-3 and 8-0. Chohan won the next two games 8-2 and 8-5.
Now tied at two apiece, Alex won game five 8-3. Game six developed into a long safety battle with both players taking a scratch as they vied for the first open shot. Finally, it was Tony who broke the ice when he fired in a back cut combination. From there, he ran seven more and closed out his run with a long rail bank!
With the match now tied at three each, it was one game for the title!
Calderon missed a long cut allowing Chohan to pocket two balls. After a few safeties back and forth and an intentional scratch taken by Alex, Tony reached into his bag of tricks and forced Calderon to give him another ball although he left one in his own pocket to force Chohan to give him one also. Score – 3-0.
Alex later got another shot to tie it up at three apiece and then went ahead 5-3. Tony then missed a three rail bank and sold out leaving Calderon with three balls to run for the win! And that he did clinching the one pocket title!
On Thursday event the Nineball division began after a players auction, meeting and draw. Featuring 61 players, they posted their $300 entry fees to play in this $10,000 added event. Played on nine foot Diamonds and using template racks with the nine racked on the spot, the format was winner breaks using the break box and races to eight in the double elimination rounds. Once down to sixteen players, it was single elimination from there with races to nine. The final match was one race to thirteen.
The action began with Aloysius Yapp, Tyler Styer and Sky Woodward receiving the coveted byes. Drawing tough, it was Roberto Gomez who defeated Rodney Morris 8-4. Other matches of note were John Morra over Keith Bennett 8-2 and Jonathan Hennessee’s win over Landon Hollingsworth 8-4.
Second round saw Alex Calderon take down Mike Davis 8-4 and Tony Chohan defeated Tyler Styer – both matches 8-4. John Morra was victorious over Roberto Gomez and Sky Woodward beat Gregorio Sanchez – both matches were 8-6.
Hennessee was defeated by Morra 8-5 in the third round and in a nailbiter, it was Johnny Archer who eked out an 8-7 win over Billy Thorpe.
Winnowed down to sixteen players, Stage 2 saw Yapp eliminate Styer 9-6 and Thorpe got another shot at Archer but to no avail. Billy went down 9-4.
Archer’s next victim was Hennessee – 9-4. Yapp was bounced out by Nathan Childress 9-2, Calderon took care of Georgiev 9-5 and Woodward notched a 9-6 win over Sanchez.
Down to the final four, Childress was red hot as he defeated Archer 9-4 to move into the finals. And, in another nailbiter, Calderon was the victor over Woodward 9-8.
As mentioned previously, the finals were one extended race to thirteen. Getting off the mark first, Childress won the first two games. Calderon answered by winning the next five games!
Nathan won the next one to make it 5-3 but Alex slowly started pulling away as he won the next three.
Down 8-3 but not out, Childress won the next two games but Calderon returned to the table making it 10-5. From there, they traded games until Alex pulled away again and reached the hill first – 12-7.
Showing heart, Nathan notched two more games before Alex sank the winning nine ball to sweep both events! Final score – 13-9.
I’m sure this won’t be the last we hear of Nathan Childress. Fine event, young man! And congratulations to Alex Calderon – winner of both his first World Nineball Tour ranking title and the one pocket championship!
PoolActionTV.com would like to thank owners Rich Kuntz and Tammy Frampton for pulling out all the stops to make all the players and fans feel welcome.
Thanks to Tournament Director Tim Bryant and his assistant, Ian Jones, for a great job keeping things running smoothly.
And, last but not least, we’d also like to thank our commentators – they included Larry Schwartz, Scott Rabon, Bernie Friend, and Ray Hansen.
What a great event! We can’t wait until next year!
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