Gary O'Callaghan, Troy Deocharran, Frank Tonn and Doug Youmans
Somebody’s apparently been spiking Gary O’Callaghan’s cereal in the morning (with Lucky Charms, perhaps?). He’s been competing on the Tri-State and Predator Tours for a few years now, and has won events on both. He was a cast member of TruTv’s short-lived, reality pool show called “The Hustlers” a couple of years ago. Within the past month, he’s accelerated his pace a bit, and been in three straight Predator Tour finals, dating back to September 3. On the weekend of September 23-24, at a $1,000-added event, hosted by The Spot in Nanuet, NY, he went undefeated through a field of 55 to chalk up his second win.
Reached to discover whether there was any particular source of inspiration for this sudden rush of appearances in Predator Tour finals, O’Callaghan gave credit to his wife.
“A peaceful marriage,” he wrote, adding “lol.”
O’Callaghan was challenged in the finals by a competitor that he’d defeated in the second round. Doug Youmans would move to the loss side of the double elimination bracket and win nine in a row for the right to face O’Callaghan a second time.
With Youmans already at work on the loss side, O’Callaghan advanced to a winners’ side semifinal match against Rhys Chen. Frank Tonn, in the meantime, faced Abel Rosario. Tonn got into the hot seat match with a 7-4 win over Rosario. He was joined by O’Callaghan, who’d sent Chen west 8-4. Awarding Tonn six beads on the wire at the start of their race to 11, Callaghan stepped into the hot seat with an 11-8 win.
On the loss side, it was Chen who picked up Youmans, six wins into his loss-side streak, which had just recently included a 7-5 win over Rob Pole and an 8-5 win over Ralph Ortiz. Rosario drew Troy Deocharran, who’d defeated Luis Jimenez 7-2 and Ed Medina 7-3.
The loss-side opponents prevailed, with Deocharran downing Rosario 7-3 and Youmans eliminating Chen 7-5. Youmans chalked up loss-side win #8 in the quarterfinals - 8-3 over Deocharran - and then, giving Tonn five beads on the wire in a race 10, defeated him 10-7, for a second shot at O’Callaghan in the finals.
Youmans put up a fight in those finals, chalking up three more racks than he had in his first meeting with O’Callaghan back in the event’s second round. O’Callaghan finished his undefeated run with a 7-5 second win over Youmans and claimed the event title.
The next stop on the Predator Pro Am Tour will be the 3rd Annual Gotham City 9-Ball Pro Classic, scheduled for October 14-16 at Gotham City Billiards in Brooklyn, NY. The $18,000-added event (up from last year's $15,000) will be limited to the first 64 players who sign up. The roster is currently at about 26 players. First consideration will be given to Pro players. If the field needs to expand, it will do so, first, with Open players, and then A++, A+, etc. The next Amateur event on the Predator Pro Am Tour, scheduled for October 28-29, will be hosted by Spin City, in Queens, NY.
