Sylver Ochoa of McAllen, the young man with the heart of a lion, won the first event of the 2004 Fast Eddie's 9 Ball Tour held at the Fast Eddie's in Austin, Texas on January 2-4. Seventy nine players forged their way through 75 degree humid weather to play in the event.
Some of the top brass of the billiard world showed as top picks were Jeremy Jones, the current US 9 Ball Champion who recently helped the US team relieve the Europeans of the Mosconi Cup, Charlie "Hillbilly" Bryant, David Henson, John Hager, James Davis Sr., Shane Harvey and T. J Davis.
The players duked it out Saturday, to reduce the field down to the final sixteen. Good shooting to Shane Harvey, Travis Stamper, Bill Fuller and Ralph Cortez in their 9-12th place finishes. Congratulations to Rick Stanley of Austin and Tony Hinojosa of Dallas for their respectable 7-8th placements.
The ever tough David Henson of Pflugerville and always steady James "Bastrop" Davis Sr. settled for the fine 5-6th positions.
Charlie "Hillbilly" Bryant started his run with wins over Pat "Chicago" Castro, 9-0, and Jeremy Jones, 9-6, before losing to David Henson, 9-7. On the one loss side, Charlie went to work with victories over T. J. Davis, Javier Franco, Bill Fuller, Rick Stanley and David Henson before succumbing to John Hager in a very tight match, 7-6, for a very nice fourth place finish. John "The Natural" Hager, a recent San Antonio transplant to Dallas, started his quest by defeating Richard Ytuarte, 9-6, Nathaniel Klarer, 9-2, Chelo Carbohal, 9-3, Ralph Cortez, 9-8, before being vanquished to the left side of the chart by Brian Jones, 9-8, after John scratched on the break in the hill-hill game of the match.
Brian Jones, of Tulsa, OK., who has been making the rounds in South Texas recently, started his run for gold with triumphs over Kenny Greer, 9-8, Bill Derryberry, 9-2, Candy Ramos, 9-1, Shane Harvey, 9-7 and David Henson, 9-7, to meet up with Sylver Ochoa for the finals of the winner's bracket which went Sylver's way in a nail biting score of 9-8. In the finals of the brutal bracket, Brian defeated John Hager to again meet up with Sylver in the finals.
Sylver Ochoa of McAllen is a young, dedicated and solid star on the rise in the southwest. We knew something was up when he finished second in the Fast Eddie's 9 Ball Season Finale last November. Sylver stormed to the hot seat of the winner's bracket with successes over Matt Wilson, 9-6, Joe Zaragosa, 9-1, Bill Fuller, 9-6, John Hager, 9-8 and Brian Jones, 9-8. Sylver's consistent stroke and heart did not fail him in the finals as he defeated Brian Jones 9-5.
Special THANKS to Danny (GM-Fast Eddie's-Austin), Patrick and their crew for hosting a great event. See you next month in San Antonio!
Complete Payouts:
1st Sylver Ochoa $3250
2nd Brian Jones $2280
3rd John Hager $1600
4th Charlie Bryant $1030
5th/6th David Henson, James Davis Sr. $500
7th/8th Rick Stanley, Tony Hinojosa $150
9th/12th Ralph Cortez, Bill Fuller, Travis Stamper, Shane Harvey $100
