By the time the 1st Annual Cole Dickson Memorial Tournament was drawing to a close on Sunday night, June 30, most of the drama was playing out on the loss side, where six of the final 10 matches went to double hill, including the final four. Amar Kang, in the meantime, was sitting in the hot seat, waiting for an opponent, who turned out to be Mark Tiu. Kang completed an undefeated run with a victory over Tiu in the finals to claim the $4,000-added event title that had drawn 104 entrants to Family Billiards in San Francisco, CA.
According to Daniel Busch, whose POVPool crew live-streamed selected matches for free throughout the weekend, this Cole Dickson Memorial Tournament has been added to the front end of what's been known for the last four years as the West Coast Swing, a series of tournaments which starts in Northern California and ends up in Las Vegas with the BCA Nationals, during which the CSI One-Pocket, 8-Ball and 10-Ball Championships are held. The tournament's namesake, Cole Dickson, a legendary hustler who headed out on the road with Grady Matthews when he was 15, died of cancer at the age of 62 in April.
Kang's uninterrupted path through the field of 104 concluded with four matches in which he gave up only nine racks, total, over 37 games. He defeated two brothers (of three playing) in a row; Jason Williams, among the winners' side final eight, and Marshall Williams, among the winners' side final four, both 7-2. He was met in the battle for the hot seat by Danny Gokhul, who'd sent Tiu west, double hill. Kang sent Gokhul to the semifinals and sat in the hot seat, awaiting his return.
On the loss side, Marshall Williams and Tiu ran right into the series of four, loss-side matches that would conclude events on that side of the bracket. Williams drew Deo Alpajora, who'd been defeated by Mary Rakin in the second round of play, and was in the midst of a nine-match winning streak that would take him to the quarterfinals. He'd defeated Chris MacDonald 6-3, and survived a double hill match against Ike Runnels to chalk up wins # 6 and # 7. Tiu picked up Jason Williams, who'd been sent west by Kang and then defeated his other brother, Jared, 6-4 and Tommy Lipps 6-3.
Tiu won all three of his loss-side matches, double hill. The first against Jason Williams, set him up for a quarterfinal match against Alpajora, whose double hill win over Marshall Williams left the last Williams brothers standing, Marshall and Jason, in the tie for 5th place. Tiu then stopped Alpajora's loss-side winning streak, double hill, in the quarterfinals, and then, in a re-match from the winners' side final four, eliminated Gokhul, double hill, in the semifinals. Kang wasn't having any of this, and secured the event title with a 7-2 finals win over Tiu.
