It was his first regional tour win recorded by us here at AZBilliards and only his second so-recorded cash payout. He showed up in our database for the first time when he finished 33rd among the 1,021 entrants, in single elimination, competing for the top prize in last spring’s Open Amateur Tournament at the Super Billiards Expo (SBE). This past weekend (Sat., Sept. 28), Patrick Gutierrez went undefeated at a 10-ball stop on the Garden State Pool Tour and doubled the entries reflected in his AZBilliards’ database profile.
In the battle for the hot seat, Gutierrez defeated Tim Clark, whose last three recorded payouts, playing on the Garden State Pool Tour, were all wins; two in 2022 and one this past April. Prior to that and three cash payout finishes on the Predator Tri-State Tour in 2023, Clark had been AFOD (absent from our database) since 2008 (and before that, since the turn of the century). In the finals, Gutierrez faced and defeated Jose Mendez, a long-time veteran on the Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour, who, though he’s been recording cash payouts with us since 2003, had been AFOD since 2022, when he finished 5th in that year’s George “Ginky” Sansouci Memorial.
It’s hard to compare finishing 33rd in a field of 1,021 with winning a tournament that drew a short field of 20, as happened this past weekend in the Garden State Pool Tour event hosted by Shooter’s Family Billiards in Wayne, NJ. Gutierrez would have had to win about nine matches to take home the top prize ($5,000) in the SBE. He and 31 others took home $975 from the SBE. It took him five matches to win the top prize ($600) at the Garden State event.
Gutierrez was awarded an opening round bye and opened with a 7-1 victory over Luis Jimenez. He then locked up in a double-hill battle against Rafael Acosta, who’d just sent eventual finalist Jose Mendez to the loss side 7-4. Gutierrez prevailed versus Acosta and drew David Marchant in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Clark, in the meantime, also with a bye, defeated Michelle Brotons and George Latko, Jr., both 7-3 to pick up Jimmy Acosta in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Gutierrez sent Marchand to the loss side 7-2. Clark and Acosta fought a double-hill battle, which eventually sent Clark to the hot seat against Gutierrez. Gutierrez claimed the hot seat 7-3.
On the loss side, Marchant and Acosta walked right into their second straight loss. Acosta drew Pascal Dufresne, who’d lost to Marchant 7-2 in the second round, defeated Gary McDonnell 6-2 and then, survived a double-hill match against Rafael Acosta. Marchant ran into Jose Mendez, three matches into his five-match, loss-side run, during which he had not given up a rack in his first two matches, against Chris Hanold and Latko, Jr., before eliminating Kevin Scalzitti, double hill.
Mendez downed Marchant and Dufresne eliminated Acosta, both 6-4. Mendez sent Dufresne home by the same score, and then tightened things up by giving up only three racks to Clark in the semifinals. It was Gutierrez who ‘tightened things up’ in the final, as he completed his undefeated run with a 7-2 win over Mendez to claim his first regional tour title.
Tour director Dave Fitzpatrick thanked the ownership and staff at Shooter’s Family Billiards for their hospitality, along with sponsors Billiard Engineering, Off the Rail Apparel,
World Beaters Apparel, JFlowers Cues & Cases, Kamui, Outsville, In the Box, John Bender Cues, and Brutal Game Gear. The Garden State Pool Tour will return to Shooter’s Family Billiards for its next stop, an 8-ball event, scheduled for the weekend of Oct. 12-13.
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