Sean King, Cindy Cole (TD), Daniel Johnson and Walter Hawley (Owner)
Oklahoma City’s Sean King took Dallas, Texas by storm venturing into uncharted territory, becoming the first player on the Lone Star Tour to win both the Amateur and Open 9-Ball divisions in a single event. It was a long and winding road to victory, fending off Dallas’ T.J. Davis in the Open final and Daniel Johnson in the Amateur final. King bested 35 Open and 53 Amateur players at the $1,000 added Lone Star Billiards Tour 9-Ball Event, held July 6th-7th, 2013, at Hawley’s Billiards in Dallas, Texas. The Open division included Texas notables Joey Barnes from Arlington, David Gutierrez from Austin, Tony Barrington from Lewisville, Eric Brown from Killeen, Greg Sandifer from Fort Worth, Lance Sullivan from Dallas, and local favorite T.J. Davis who returned to defend his 2012 LSBT Open 9-Ball title.
From the plethora of Open division talent, it was hard to discern a winner. Hometown player and defending champion T.J. Davis came on strong, besting Eric Brown, 9-7, and Sean King, 9-7, on his road to the hot seat. As King was fighting through the one-loss side, Tony Barrington was making his way through the winners’ side with wins over Greg Sandifer, 9-5, and Nick Conner, 9-8. Upsets included Joey Barnes who suffered an early hit at the hands of Conner, 9-8. Barnes went on to capture 4 consecutive wins until King ended his role, 7-6. Texas Open Champion David Gutierrez was dealt a second round blow by Doug Pitts, 9-8, but rose again with 6 consecutive match wins until Brown sealed his fate, 7-5. Brown went on to eliminate Raynes and Conner, 7-6 respectively, but was also stopped short by King, 7-4. On the east side, hot seat action saw Barrington fall to Davis, 9-2, staging a Barrington v. King semi-final. Paving his road to payback, the Oklahoma kid made quick work of Barrington, 7-3, the final obstacle between him and Davis.
The intensity of the players made for a suspenseful final. In the first set, Davis and King exchanged blow for blow until King pulled ahead 4-2. Davis was not deterred, but failed to keep pace, losing the set, 9-6. After regrouping, Davis came out firing the second set. The same story unfolded as players exchanged games until it was 6-6 with King breaking. With ease and control, King broke the balls superbly, pocketing a ball. Staying true to form, he ran the final rack to capture his first Lone Star Tour 9-Ball title, 7-6.
King was far from finished. On his trek to clenching the Amateur division title, he bested Ken Jennings, 7-2, Steve Raynes, 7-6, and Lance Sullivan, 7-2. Jonathan Davis was creating havoc of his own with wins over Walt Anderson, 7-4, Greg Sandifer, 7-4, and Zack Shapiro, 7-2, to face King for the hot seat. After a final 8 winners’ side hit from Sullivan, Daniel Johnson began to plow his way through the one-loss side. In the same fashion, after a second round loss to Johnson, Crispian Ng won an incredible 9 consecutive matches to meet his nemesis, Johnson. Ng lost his fight for third, terminated by Johnson, 5-1. King secured the hot seat over Davis, 7-4, who then suffered an elimination blow from Johnson, 5-4. In the final, King wasted little time defeating Johnson, 7-4, becoming the first player to win both divisions in a single Lone Star Tour event.
The Lone Star Tour would like to thank Cindy Cole and Lance Sullivan for directing the Dallas event, Hawley’s Billiards for hosting another successful Lone Star Tour stop, and Jerry Moore for providing an entire weekend of cue repair for the Lone Star players. Last but certainly not least, congratulations to Jennifer Pavlovick for her efforts in the Amateur division, earning “Top Lady” finisher.
The Lone Star Billiards Tour is sponsored by Poison by Predator Cues, www.poisonbilliards.com, Delta-13 Rack, www.delta-13.com, and APA of North Harris County, www.facebook.com/apaofnorthharris.
The next event will be the annual Lone Star Billiards Tour Texas Open Warm-Up 9-Ball Event, August 10th-11th, 2013, at Skinny Bob’s Billiards in Round Rock, TX. Visit us on facebook.com/lonestartour.
