Chip Compton and Greg Hogue
It is, of course, a hot seat occupant's worst nightmare. After all the effort, time, energy, and sometimes a lot of waiting to arrive at 'last winner' status, a loss-side opponent (more often than not, someone already defeated previously) steps up to the plate in the finals and negates (at least, psychologically) all that work by snatching an event title away. On the weekend of April 9-10, at a stop on the Midwest 9-Ball Tour, Greg Hogue was the hot seat occupant and Chip Compton was the nightmare. Compton took two out of three against Hogue to win the $1,900-added event that drew 51 entrants to Jamaica Joe's in Midwest City, OK.
On the Ladies' side, Tara Williams avoided the 'nightmare' by downing Brittany Maynard twice to go undefeated and claim that title. The $600-added Ladies tournament drew 16 entrants.
Compton and Hogue met first in the hot seat match. They'd both defeated opponents 9-6 to get there; Compton, defeating KC Massey and Hogue, downing Jacob McMichael. Seemingly hooked on the 9-6 idea, Hogue defeated Compton to claim the hot seat and waited on his return from the semifinals.
On the loss side, Massey picked up Daniel Herring, who'd defeated Lawrence Sanders 9-4 and Bobby Coston 9-5 to reach him. McMichael drew Joey Gray, who'd been sent to the loss side 9-1 by Compton in a winners' side quarterfinal, and defeated Jeff Williams 9-5 and Norman Small 9-4. By identical 9-7 scores, Massey and Gray advanced to the quarterfinals over Herring and McMichael.
Gray downed Massey 9-3 in those quarterfinals to earn himself a re-match versus Compton in the semifinals. Gray put up more of a fight the second time around, chalking up six racks, but Compton prevailed for his own second and then, deciding match against Hogue in the hot seat.
Compton took the first of the two, double elimination matches 9-3. Hogue fought back in the second set, but a single game away from a double hill game, Compton finished it at 9-7.
Tara Williams' path to the winners' circle in the Ladies' event went through Brittany Maynard twice. She downed her in the hot seat match 7-4. On the loss side, Renee Young defeated Rachel Peterson 7-1 in a quarterfinal match that set her up to face Maynard in the semifinals. Maynard prevailed 7-5 for a second, and potentially third shot against Williams in the hot seat. Williams rendered the second set point moot with a shutout over Maynard in the finals.
The next stop on the Midwest 9-Ball Tour, a $2,500-added event, scheduled for this coming weekend (April 16-17), will be hosted by a new-to-the-tour room - Astros, in Lawrence, KS. On the long weekend of June 2-5, the Midwest 9-Ball Tour will play host to another Mosconi Cup qualifying event, the latest of which, in Raleigh, NC, drew 128 entrants and featured the sport's top opponents. The event will feature a One Pocket tournament, and, as the Mosconi Cup qualifying event, a 9-Ball tournament.
