 Mike Williams |
A field of 37 players took a break from the heat and attended the Olhausen Billiards Desert All Around Tour stop at On The Snap Billiards in Prescott, Az on July 21st - 22nd.
The usual assortment of top local talent including Mitch Ellerman, Tony Confalone, Chuck Evans, Terry Osborne and Mike Pankoff was joined by UPA President Frank Alvarez III and a handful of talent from California and Las Vegas.
The theme of this event was ‘upsets', as no former event winner was able to make it past round three without a loss. Chuck Evans fell to John Hall, Mike Pankoff lost a second round match to Frank Alvarez, Tour points leader Mitch Ellerman lost to John Kutcher from Las Vegas, former Arizona player Mark Estes defeated Tony Confalone and Terry Osborne lost to Brady Juve on the winners side.
Sunday play began with eight players on the winners side. Bobby Emmons, Mike Williams, John Kutcher and Al Lawrence all advanced. Williams and Kutcher then moved on to play for the hot-seat after they both scored hill-hill wins.
The one loss side saw Mike Sandoval and Pete Lhotka plowing through the competition. Sandoval had dropped a match to Max Maurer on Saturday, but scored wins over Rich Daniels, Al Barlow, Ed Scott, Mitch Ellerman and Bobby Emmons. Lhotka lost to Chuck Evans in the second round Saturday, but had wins over Dale Teague, Tony Confalone, Mike Pankoff, Max Maurer, John Hall and Al Lawrence on the one loss side. Sandoval and Lhotka met on the one loss side and the winning streak would have to end for one of them. That turned out to Lhotka as Sandoval scored the 5-3 win.
The match for the hot-seat saw Mike Williams cruise to a 7-1 win over Kutcher to send Kutcher to the one loss side where he would meet Mike Sandoval. Kutcher turned his game around in the match against Sandoval and scored a quick 5-1 win to set up the rematch with Williams in the finals.
As one sided as the first match between Williams and Kutcher was, the extended race to 10 final match was just as bad with Williams running away to a 10-2 victory and his first Olhausen Billiards Desert All Around Tour win.
The Olhausen Billiards Desert All Around Tour is sponsored by Olhausen Billiards ("The Best in Billiards"), as well as McDermott Handcrafted Cues, Visual Impressions, Aramith Billiard Balls, Tiger Products, Whisler Custom Cues, OnQ Cases, Tweeten Fibre, Joe Tucker, Billiards Press, Billiards Digest and Simonis Billiard Cloth.
Photo courtesy of Rick Schmitz
