Just shy of four years ago (Dec. 9, 2020), about a month after the country elected its 46th President, we reported on a first-time win (with a ‘no-final’ asterisk) for Scott Howard. Now, a week before the country elects its 47th President (Sat., Oct. 26), Howard has done it again, going undefeated to the hot seat and splitting the top prize with (this time) Jonathan Ailstock. Different location (Randolph’s in Hickory, NC last time, Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN this time), same asterisk. Could it be the elections that bring out his best game? Or some other quadrennial event, like the Olympics, or the FIFA World Cup or is it just the extra day that the Leap Years have given him to prepare?
In both cases, Howard faced different opponents in the hot seat match and a final that didn’t happen. He and Hank Powell did the prize-splitting four years ago. This year, it was Ailstock, who, as a result, recorded his first cash finish in 2024, after having his best recorded earnings year in 2023. The $1,000-added stop on the PremierBilliards.com’s TOP (The Open Player) Tour at Janet Atwell’s Borderline Brunswick Arena in Bristol drew 37 entrants.
In winners’ side, straight-up races to six, it was a challenging start for Howard, who faced two double-hill matches against Yoshiaki Kanamura and Joe Blackburn in his first three rounds, with an almost-double-hill (6-4) match versus Travis Hutson in the middle. This moved him into a winners’ side semifinal against Gavin Hatley, who’d sent Ailstock to the loss side (double hill) in the third round.
Meanwhile, headed for the hot seat match was Bo Hartman, who’d also opened with a double-hill win over Charlie Perry and then chalked up two 6-4 wins (Keith Young and Malorie Zastrow) with a 6-2 win over Tommy Chappell in the middle. The win over Zastrow put Bo Hartman in the other winners’ side semifinal against room owner, Janet Atwell.
Howard sent Hatley to the loss side 6-3 and in the hot seat match, faced Hartman, who’d defeated Atwell 6-4. In what turned out to be Howard’s last match, he shut Hartman out and claimed the hot seat.
On the races-to-5 loss side, Hatley drew a rematch against Ailstock, who’d followed his loss to him with four (eventually to be seven) straight wins that included the shutout elimination of Malorie Zastrow and a 5-3 win over Dustin Coe. Atwell picked up Thomas Sansone, who’d lost his second-round match to Zastrow 6-3 and also won four straight, to include a 5-2 victory over Cliff Strout and a successful, double-hill bout against Joe Blackburn.
Atwell dropped Sansone 5-3 and advanced to the quarterfinals. Ailstock chalked up a successful, double-hill rematch against Hatley to join her.
Atwell didn’t get the rematch she might have been looking for against Hartman because Ailstock defeated her 5-1 in those quarterfinals. He then spoiled Hartman’s hopes for a rematch versus Howard by defeating him 5-3 in the semifinals. It was about an hour and 20 minutes into Sunday when Howard and Ailstock negotiated their split of the top two prizes, granting Howard his second ‘asterisk’ tour win.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked Janet Atwell and her Borderline Brunswick Arena staff for their hospitality, along with title sponsor PremierBilliards.com, digitalpool.com, BarPoolTables.net (Randy Tate), Breaktime Billiards in Winston-Salem, NC, TKO Custom Cues and Realty One Group results (Kirk Overcash), Dirty South Grind Apparel (Angela Harlan-Parker), Federal Savings Bank (Alex Narod), CHC Underground (Chris Clary), and AZBilliards.
The next stop on the PremierBilliards.com’s TOP Tour will be the $1,000-added, 2nd Annual Rocky Mount Open, scheduled for this weekend (Nov. 2-3), and hosted by Dot’s Cue Club in Rocky Mount, NC.
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