Michael, Christian and Angela Fuller
There was a bit of a ‘prodigal son’ tale that played out over this past weekend (Nov. 11) on the PremierBilliards.com’s Q City 9-Ball Tour. The $500-added event that drew 22 entrants to The Clubhouse in Lynchburg, VA was won (with an *) by Christian Fuller, who advanced to the hot seat but opted out of a final match and split the top two prizes with Greg Taylor.
Fuller was (is) the ‘prodigal son’ of the story, winning his first recorded cash payout in a tournament. Those aware of the mid-Atlantic pool community over the years may recognize the last name, because Christian Fuller’s Dad, Michael, was among the region’s top competitors ‘back in the day,’ roughly between ’03 to ’12. The elder Fuller won 16 (recorded) events in those 10 years, many of them on a combination of the Jacoby Custom Cues Carolina and Viking Tours. He competed in the US Open in each of his active 10 years, finishing 5th in his last (’12). In his best recorded earnings year, Fuller cashed in 18 events, winning three, runner-up in two and finishing 5th in that year’s Derby City Classic.
Michael’s son, Christian, did not immediately follow in his Dad’s proverbial footsteps. His undefeated run to the hot seat this past weekend supported the age-old story about an apple that doesn’t fall too far from its tree, even though in Christian’s case, it took some time for the fruit to actually hit the ground. Christian arrived, at the age of 18, about a year removed from the ability to compete as a ‘junior’ on the tour. As it turned out, playing as a ‘4’ in the handicapped tournament, Christian faced a bona fide junior competitor, 15-year-old Eddie Vondereau, who signed on to this event a week after finishing in the tie for 7th at the Junior International Championships 18U division at the International Open in Norfolk, VA. Fuller and Vondereau squared off in the hot seat match and battled to double hill, before Fuller prevailed in what proved to be his last match.
Fuller actually finished and started his run with a double-hill win. He took his opener against Triston Lambert 4-4 (Lambert racing to 5), won his second versus Nick Call by the same score (Call racing to 6) and a winners’ side quarterfinal against Michael Tucker 4-2. This set him up to face tour veteran Jose Irizarry in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Vondereau, in the meantime, started the day with two straight shutouts over Thomas Sansone and Tyler Wood, before giving up three to Mike Fuller and drawing Robert McCoy in the other winners’ side semifinal.
McCoy put up a double-hill fight against Vondereau, but Vondereau prevailed, advancing to the hot seat match. Fuller defeated Irizarry 4-5 (Irizarry racing to 7). Fuller opened the hot seat match with a single ‘bead on the wire’ in a race to 5. He won his second double-hill match, downing Vondereau by the same 4-4 score that he’d chalked up in his opening match and claimed the hot seat. The decision to opt out of the final was made soon after. Fuller agreed to a split of the top two prizes before he knew who his opponent might be.
At the conclusion of the hot seat match, there were three competitors left (one of the 5/6 matches had finished before Fuller had claimed the seat). Irizarry moved over and picked up Greg Taylor, who’d lost a winners’ side quarterfinal to McCoy and then defeated Call and Travis Guerra, both 8-3. McCoy drew James Boddy, who’d lost an opening-round match to Guerra and went on a five-match, loss-side streak that had started with the double-hill elimination of Eddie Vondereau’s father, Pete. Boddy benefited from a forfeit win over Michael Tucker and another double-hill win, over Regan Wallace.
Boddy advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-2 victory over McCoy before Fuller claimed the hot seat. Taylor and Irizarry’s match went a little longer, finishing up with Taylor’s 8-3 win about 40 minutes after Fuller had claimed the seat. Taylor stopped Boddy’s loss-side streak by not allowing him a single rack in the quarterfinals.
The semifinal wasn’t that easy. In a straight-up race to 8, Taylor and Vondereau battled to double hill before Taylor prevailed to claim his portion of the top two prizes.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at The Clubhouse along with title sponsor PremierBilliards.com, Bar PoolTables.net, Realty One Group Results, TKO Custom Cues (Kirk Overcash), Dirty South Grind Apparel Company (Angela Harlan-Parker), Diamond Brat (Tonya Crosby), Federal Savings Bank/Mortgage division (Alex Narod) and AZBilliards.
Parker’s tour will switch ‘hats’ for the coming week. As the Q City 9-Ball Tour takes the week off, the PremierBilliards.com’s TOP (The Open Player) Tour will take over by running the inaugural Rocky Mount Open, a $1,000-added event, to be hosted by Dot’s Cue Club in Rocky Mount, NC.
0 comments