Lee Van Corteza (Photos courtesy of Dave Thomson - Mediumpool.com)
Lee Van Corteza came back from the one loss side to avenge his only loss to Rodney Morris in the finals and won the star studded Hard Times Mezz Cues 10-Ball Open.
With the World Pool Masters and US Open 10-Ball Championships kicking off in Vegas next week, it was no surprise that the $5000 added event at Hard Times drew more than it's share of monster players. The field was packed with top talent including Efren Reyes, Hunter Lombardo, Ismael Paez, Corteza, Louie Ulrich, Marcus Chamat, Max Eberle, Mika Immonen, Oscar Dominguez, Roberto Gomez, Morris, Ronnie Wiseman, Stevie Moore, Thorsten Hohmann and Warren Kiamco.
As the field narrowed on Sunday, the final four on the winners side saw Eberle defeat Oscar Dominguez 9-7 and Morris squeak by Corteza 9-8. In the match for the hot-seat, Morris sent Eberle to the left side of the board by the score of 9-5.
After the loss to Morris, Corteza earned wins over Kiamco and Dominguez before eliminating Eberle 9-7 for another shot at Morris in the single elimination final set.
Both players looked tired as the final match got underway, but it was Corteza who took control and cruised to an 11-7 win for the $4000 first prize. Morris had to settle for $2500 in second place prize money.
The event was streamed all weekend long by the good folks at The Action Report and Mezz Cues donated a break cue to the top amateur player in the field. That cue went to Eddie Mataya who finished in 13th place.
The vast majority of the players in this event will be in Vegas on Wednesday as the World World Masters gets underway.
