Tony Chohan (Karl Kantrowitz)
This past weekend was the culmination of an action filled week at Iron City Billiards in Birmingham, AL.
Owner Michael Catanese welcomed players from all over to play in his Iron City Open 9 Ball and Ladies 9 Ball Championships. Top players included Efren Reyes, Roberto Gomez, Roland Garcia, Sky Woodward, Omar Alshaheen, Tony Chohan, Josh Roberts, Cliff Joyner, Manny Perez, Justyn Cone, Manny Chau, Sergio Rivas, Monica Webb, Ming Ng, April Larson, Jeannie Seaver and Kaylee McIntosh.
Friday night saw a players auction and draw for the $5,000 added Open 9 Ball. Played on seven foot Diamonds, 122 players ponied up their $100 entry fees. The format was double elimination, races to 9/7 with alternate breaks.
After many matches, the field was whittled down to four undefeated players. Manny Perez was defeated by Sky Woodward 9-6 while Tony Chohan claimed victory in a close match over this week’s one pocket king, Josh Roberts, 9-8. Chohan and Woodward advanced to the hot seat match where Tony sent Sky packing 9-3 as he locked up a berth in the finals. Licking his wounds, Sky headed west to await an opponent.
On the one loss side and looking for another shot at Tony, Josh squeaked past Manny Chau 7-6 and then knocked Sky out of the tournament 7-4 leaving him in third place.
As this was true double elimination, Roberts had his work cut out for him as he’d have to win two sets to make a clean sweep of all three events. However, Chohan was having none of that as he clinched the title 9-5!
Monica Webb (Jay Chiu)
While the Open 9 Ball was underway, the Ladies 9 Ball began on Saturday night. Again, a players auction was held followed by the draw. By Sunday evening, the field had been pared down to four players on the winners side. April Larson escaped with a 9-8 victory over Kaylee McIntosh while Monica Webb defeated Ming Ng 9-7. April and Monica moved into the hot seat match as their opponents moved to the one loss side.
Once over on the west side, Kaylee edged out Julie Cone 7-6 while Ming defeated the always tough Jeannie Seaver 7-3. Kaylee thumped Ming 7-2 next and waited for her next opponent. She didn’t have to wait long as Webb beat Larson 9-4 in the hot seat match.
Still on a tear, red hot Kaylee claimed victory over April 7-4 leaving her with a well deserved third place finish.
Again, as this was true double elimination, Kaylee would have to defeat Monica twice to claim the title. Knowing this and hungry for her first big win, Kaylee put it all on the table and took Monica to the hill but was unable to close it out and force a second set. Monica won 9-8 and claimed the title.
What a week! PoolActionTV.com would again like to thank Mike and his staff for going the extra mile to take care of all the players and fans. We’d like to thank Tournament Directors Daryl Keplinger, Jason Hill and Ray Hansen for doing such a great job. We’d also like to thank commentators Jeremy Jones and Larry Schwartz for a great job.
Congratulations to Tony Chohan and Monica Webb for emerging unscathed in their paths to victory!!! And, once more – congratulations to Josh Roberts for his one pocket victories!!!
As always, we’d also like to thank our fans and sponsors. Our sponsors include Outsville, JB Cases, Hanshew Jump Cues, StraightPoolEye, Lomax Custom Cues, Durbin Custom Cues, Diamond Billiard Products, Aramith, Simonis, RG Billiards of Birmingham, AL, the Action Palace of Dayton, OH and Fort Worth Billiards Superstore of Fort Worth, TX.
Our next event is the 34th Annual Music City Open 9 Ball Championships held at JOB Billiard Club in Madison, TN – dates are January 12th-16th. Hope to see you there!!!
