Big O's in Tampa, Florida hosted the January 18th KF Cue Tour event with $1700 added. Saturday's $1000 added Open event attracted a very strong 36 players for the $2450 purse. Some of the notable players on the day were Corey Deuel, Tony Crosby, Tommy Kennedy, Donnie Mills, Neil Fujiwara, Josh Degler, and Tracie Hines.
Neil Fujiwara looked very strong throughout the day with a 7-2 win over Tim Brown, followed by a tight 7-6 win over Corey Deuel. Fujiwara then gave Donnie Mills a 7-0 thrashing, an impressive win considering the tour's new format of alternate breaks (rack your own). Fujiwara went on to play local player Trevor Braymore for a chance to get into the finals. Braymore, however, had his own plans, beating Fujiwara 7-4, and then following up with a 7-6 win over James Roberts, who had made his way to the finals with a strong win over Josh Degler 7-5.
Bill Dunsmore was the man on a mission on the one loss side. After dropping a match to Braymore 7-6 on the winner side, Dunsmore, playing some great pool throughout the day, went on to beat Jarred Schlaugh 7-1, JT 7-4, Tim Parisian 7-6, and Josh Degler 7-6, before taking his second loss to Fujiwara 7-5. Dunsmore finished in 5th-6th position with Tony Crosby, who had just been eliminated by Tommy Kennedy in a 7-5 match.
Fujiwara went on to beat Kennedy 7-6, putting Kennedy out in 4th place. His win would be short-lived, however, losing to James Roberts 7-3. Roberts now had another shot at Braymore for the championship.
Roberts, whose only loss of the day came from Braymore, showed no mercy in the final with a blistering 7-1 win, making Braymore pay for every mistake. This was James Roberts second final of the season and his first-ever open event with the $750 first prize.
The $700 Added Amateur event kicked off with 50 players and a total purse of $1850. This was the tour's 7th Amateur event of the season, and with it brought a 7th different winner to the champions list, which means no single player is dominating the tour.
Bill Dunsmore was one of the stronger players making his way to the hotseat match. Dunsmore, who had a strong 5th-6th finish in the Open event the previous day, continued his strong play with wins over Jimmie Hines 7-4, Evan Hugnh 7-4, Bobby Moore 7-6, Ernesto Kilgore 7-4, and Jason Walton 7-5, placing him in the finals.
Mark Wathen was another tour regular making it to the finals for the first time. His route to the finals included wins over Stephanie Mitchell 7-3, Jeff Blomquist 7-3, Dale Stanley 7-1, and George Saunders 7-3. Wathen went on to a bruising 7-0 win over new Amateur tour points leader Ted Lepak.
The hotseat match was a tight one, with Dunsmore jumping out to a 5-2 lead, only to see Wathen come back with 4 wins in a row to get on the hill 6-5. Dunsmore managed to tie it at 6-6. Wathen got his chance in the decider and ran a very tough rack to win the match.
On the one loss side, Albert Howe proved to be to tough to beat. Howe dropped a hill-hill match to Jason Walton, and then went on a 5 match winning streak with wins over JT 5-1, Richard Langston 5-0, Tour points leader Ted Lepak 5-0, Adam Wheeler 5-4, and Bill Dunsmore 5-2.
And, Howe didn't let up in the final, making it a one sided affair, with Wathen struggling to find the form and focus he had played with all day. Howe went on to win the match 9-3, with Wathen making too many mistakes to mount any kind of challenge.
This was another great event with the Amateurs players coming out in force once again to support the tour. Seven different winners in 7 different events goes to show the format of the tour is working well and the handicap system implemented for the high level Amateur players is paying off.
KF Cue Tour wishes to thank KF Cues and all their sponsors for making another fantastic event happen at one of the biggest rooms in the Tampa Bay area - Big O's Billiards.
The next KF Cue Tour event will take place at Ultimate Billiards in FT Pierce, Florida. Check out the schedule at www.kfcuetour.com for schedule changes and the latest rankings and news.
