Playing in a primarily amateur field, Jonathan "Hennessee from Tennessee" Pinegar was taxed with racing to 12, and though he wound up on the loss side of the December 19-20 stop on the Q City 9-Ball Tour, he won seven straight, including a victory over the man who'd sent him there - J.T. Ringgold - and the hot seat occupant, Dustin Coe. Pinegar won the final event of the tour's 2015 season, which drew 50 entrants to Janet Atwell's Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN.
Having sent Pinegar to the loss side, Ringgold advanced to a winners' side semifinal against Coe. Justin Espinoza, in the meantime, squared off against Daniel Mobley. Coe sent Ringgold to an eventual loss-side rematch against Pinegar with a double hill win (5-7), as Espinoza downed Mobley 8-4. Coe grabbed the hot seat, his final win, 5-2.
On the loss side, Pinegar launched his seven-match winning streak that saw him give up only 15 racks through 97 games. He started with a 12-5 victory over Scott Largen, and followed it with a shutout over Jerry Varnado, which set him up for a match against Mobley. Ringgold picked up Trey Frank, who'd defeated Matt Shaw, double hill and J.T. Ringgold's father, Terry, 7-3.
Pinegar earned his rematch against the younger Ringgold with a 12-3 victory over Mobley, while Ringgold was eliminating Frank 8-4. Over the next 55 games, Pinegar gave up only seven racks. He gave up most of those (4) in his rematch against Ringgold in the quarterfinals. He didn't give up any against Justin Espinoza in the semifinals.
With Coe racing to five, Pinegar needed to defeat him twice, and he did so, handily. He took the first set of the true double elimination final 2-1 and stepped up his game to win the second 2-1.
The Q City 9-Ball Tour will hold its Tour Championship on New Year's weekend, January 2-3. The $1,000-added event, featuring the invited top 80 players on the tour, will be hosted by Brown's Billiards in Raleigh, NC.
