The Planet Pool tour returned to the player favorite Bill & Billies Cuesport in Arnold, MD on November 19/20th for stop #11 of the 9 ball division. This is a family pool room atmosphere with plenty of Brunswick Gold Crown tables in excellent condition. Owner Kurt Ziem and the tour sponsors combined to make this a $2500 added event. A moderate but strong field of 55 Open division entrants and 18 ladies came out to compete.
Last event?s winner Shaun Wilkie found himself on the wrong end of a 9-7 decision to young newcomer Chris Futrell. The 15 year old from Virginia is a quickly rising star and followed up this win with a 9-8 thriller over tour veteran Lee Holt. Another youngster Josh Brothers took down Brett Stottlemyer 9-5 who is a threat to win at every event. Jerry Slivka escaped a 9-8 win over Shawn Jackson to move into Sunday as did newcomer Matt Clatterbuck. The bottom of the bracket pitted pro player Mike Davis vs Robert Phillips with 9 ball division points? leader Kevin West taking on David Hunt the leader of the 8 ball division.
On Sunday, Clatterbuck really impressed the crowd taking down Slivka 9-3 followed by a 9-4 win over Brothers. Davis and West advanced to a showdown to stake claim to the points lead. West edged out Davis 9-7 to maintain the top spot. The hot seat match had everyone wondering if the tour established West could overcome the strong play of the newcomer Clatterbuck. This was answered when West stretched a 3-2 advantage out to 7-2 without letting his opponent to the table. West cruised to an impressive 9-2 win.
In the elimination bracket, Slivka came back from 3-6 deficits to both Wilkie and Brothers to escape 7-6. Those comebacks coupled with a pair of 7-3 wins over Brandon Shuff and Davis put Slivka into a rematch with Clatterbuck. This was one of the shortest matches on record at just over 20 minutes with Slivka utilizing a power break to post a 7-1 score. Clatterbuck only made a couple of mistakes in two sets but had to settle for a solid 3rd place finish. The single set final race to eleven started out with Slivka taking control and holding off a late charge to win 11-9. 1st was worth $1000 with $650 for 2nd.
A strong field of ladies came in on Sunday for their event. Tour points? leader Pamela Treadway cashed in the Open division event on Saturday night and seemed poised to continue her winning ways. The free-stroking My-Hanh Lac had other plans and grabbed a 7-6 win over Treadway. Kathleen Lawless played well all day to reach the hot seat after defeating Lac 7-5. Treadway shifted into another gear in the elimination bracket defeating 5 opponents by a combined 25-4 score. Malea Haacke settled for 4th while Lac took the 3rd spot. The single set final race to 9 was controlled by Treadway who did not give Lawless many opportunities. The final score was 9-3 for Treadway to earn her 6th event title on tour this year. 1st was worth $430 with $285 for 2nd.
