Jonathan Rawlins, Tim Larson and Shane McMinn
Members of the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area are a tightly-knit community. Participants in the tour’s 11 stops throughout a given calendar year tend to yield a similar, tightly-knit group of competitors who vie for a Tour Championship title at the end of a year. The tour opened its 2024 season last weekend (Jan. 20-21) and all 10 of its Top 10 (ranked) players from 2023 were on hand to compete. That said, only four of last year’s Top 10 at the end of the year, finished among the Top 10 at the opening event of the tour’s 2024 season.
The last four ‘standing’ at the end of the $1,000-added event that drew 85 entrants to that season opener, hosted by Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, TX last weekend, finished among 2023’s top five. Shane McMinn, who came from the loss side to claim the opening 2024 event title, finished 2nd in 2023’s tour standings. Event runner-up Tim Larson finished 4th in last year’s final standings. Jonathan Rawlins, who finished the event in third place, finished in 5th place in last year’s standing, while last year’s #1-rated competitor, Gus Briseno, finished 4th in the 2024 season opener. The outlier in the group of 2023’s top five was Greg Sandifer, who finished at #3 in the 2023 tour standings and tied for 17th place at the season opener. None of 2023’s remaining Top 10 finished in the money at the opener.
It should be noted here that 285 players competed in at least one event of the 2023 season. So while it is indeed a tightly-knit community of players, it is not a closed community of players. Competitors come and go and at least one player who did not compete last year finished in the money at this year’s season opener.
McMinn opened his trip to the winners’ circle with victories over James Baum 10-5, James Autrey 10-4, Logan Matamoros 10-4 and the aforementioned Greg Sandifer 10-7, when he ran into Clint Freeman (#15 in 2023 and destined to finish 5th at the event). Freeman prevailed 8-9, launching McMinn’s five-match, loss-side winning streak that would put him into the double-elimination finals.
This left the path to the hot seat match open for what proved to be Tim Larson and Jonathan Rawlins. Larson, racing to 9, got by Nam Tran (0), Ruben Adams (1), Edward Gutierrez (2), Mark Szabo (2) and Juan Parra (4) to draw Clint Freeman in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Rawlins defeated Tina Soto (0), Jasper Yan (5), David White (0), Neil Saidawi (3) and in a winners’ side quarterfinal, Gus Briseno 7-6 (Briseno racing to 9). Rawlins faced Clint Palaci in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Rawlins and Palaci battled to double hill before Rawlins prevailed to claim his spot in the hot seat match. In a straight-up race to 9, Larson defeated Freeman 9-6 to join Rawlins. Larson claimed the hot seat with a 9-4 win.
Freeman came over to the loss side and ran into Briseno, who’d followed his loss to Rawlins with victories over Jay Grant 9-4 and Robert Reighter 9-2. Palaci had the misfortune of running into Shane McMinn, who’d followed his winners’ side quarterfinal loss to Freeman by giving up only three racks to Tony Top (1) and Juan Parra (2).
Briseno got by Freeman 9-5, thereby eliminating a McMinn/Freeman rematch in the quarterfinals. McMinn eliminated Palaci 10-2.
And there they were, the two players from that tightly-knit, Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour community who’d finished at the top of the 2023 standings, squaring off in the season-opening quarterfinals of the 2024 tour. Briseno started the match with a single ‘bead on the wire’ in a race to 10. He could have used seven more, as McMinn took charge early and defeated him 10-2. In the semifinals that followed, Jonathan Rawlins (2023’s #5, racing to 7) came to within a game of forcing a double-hill, final game, but McMinn got out in front to finish it at 10-5.
And now, in the double-elimination final, it was the hot seat occupant (#4 in the 2023 standings), facing off against #2. Though never predictable, it likely did not come as much of a surprise that the opening set went double hill. Like Briseno in the quarterfinals, Tim Larson started with a single ‘bead on the wire’ in a race to 10. McMinn won the deciding game for a 10-8 win and geared up to do it again. He did, winning the second set 10-5 to claim the tour’s season-opening title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Rusty’s Billiards for their hospitality, along with title sponsor Cuetec and associate title sponsor, Fort Worth Billiards Superstore. Stop #2 on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for February 17-18, will be hosted by Stixx & Stones in Lewisville, TX.
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