 Danny Mulhollen III |
The Tiger Pool Tour returned to Hagerstown Billiards & Café in Hagerstown, MD for the Brian Barrett Memorial on Jun 16th/17th. Local player Brian Barrett passed away a few years ago and this event has been created to remember him. This was a $2500 added event including a paid WPBA qualifying spot into an upcoming women's professional event. The room owners Roger and Tammie Munson were accommodating as usual continuing to make this room a player favorite on the tour. A strong field of 64 entrants came out including all players in the Top 12 on the points list with 26 ladies competing in the Sunday Women's Division.
Hometown favorite young gun Richard Barney gave up just 7 games in his first 3 matches to make it to Sunday undefeated. Points' leader Jerry Slivka joined him as did tour veterans Kevin West and Alan Duty. Danny Mulhollen III defeated Shaun Wilkie 9-7 to join the fun. Rounding out the top 8 were Matt Clatterbuck, newcomer Douglas Pitts and National Amateur champion Billy McCollim.
Sunday started out poorly for Mulhollen as McCollim defeated him 9-4. West played strongly downing Slivka 9-3. West continued over McCollim in a hard fought 9-7 win. Clatterbuck escaped Pitts 9-7 and then stormed through Duty 9-1. West moved into the hot seat with a 9-6 win over Clatterbuck.
In the elimination bracket, Eric Moore came out on top in two hill-hill matches against Mike Davis and Slivka. Mulhollen put an end to Moore's fortunes 7-4. Mulhollen then marched over Duty 7-3, McCollim 7-4 and Clatterbuck 7-2 to reach the final. The single set final race to 11 with West started out close before Mulhollen rode the momentum of a couple of 9 ball breaks. A few successful jump shots pumped up Mulhollen who ran away with it 11-4 for his first tour win. 1st was worth $1000 with $700 for 2nd.
The Sunday women's event held interest with several strong amateur contenders vied for the WPBA qualifying spot. An additional point of interest was the guest appearance of WPBA pro Megan “Magnum” Minerich visiting from Colorado. Minerich was tested early as she won a long hard fought 7-6 victory over Zinnie Panju. Wins over Linda Shea, Kathleen Lawless and Nicole Vincent put Minerich into the hot seat match. The lower half of the bracket was no surprise as current points' leader My-Hanh Lac worked her way through to meet up with Minerich. Lac took control of this match to win 7-4.
There were a couple of nice runs in the elimination bracket from tour regulars Ellen Yu and Cheryl Squire. These players matched up with Yu advancing and Squire settling for 4th place. Yu went up 2-1 on Minerich before the visiting pro surged to a 5-2 win for another shot at Lac. This was an exciting single race to 9 final with Minerich coming back from 5-2 to lead 7-5. Lac tied it at 7 but it was Minerich reaching the hill first. After a few pressure situations from both players, it was Minerich earning the 9-7 win and $500. Lac did well with $375 and another WPBA opportunity.
Click here for Open event payouts.
Click here for Ladies event payouts.
