With a field of seventy-five players in the open division and with a women's event hosting fifteen players, the Midwest 9-Ball Tour held its latest event entitled the 5th Annual Oklahoma State 8-Ball Championship at Magoo's in Tulsa, Oklahoma, this weekend (August 2nd-3rd).
The $350 added women's eight ball division ended late afternoon on Sunday with a few names that we are used to seeing from other regional tours rounding out the top. The hot-seat match saw Brittany Colvert best Kathy McMinn 5-2, sending McMinn west to battle it out with OB1Cues Tour top gun, Heather Lloyd. Lloyd bested Bonnie Plowman in the quarters 4-2 and moved past McMinn in the semis 4-1 avenging the earlier round loss she suffered at the hands of McMinn. In the finals, Colvert had her hands full as Lloyd was determined to hold on for the win. With a 5-2 win in the first set, Colvert was forced into a second set of the true double elimination final, but was unable to keep Lloyd down as she roared up and flew past Colvert by a score of 4-2 to take top honors.
All the while, the open brackets were working themselves down to the final few in its $1650 added eight ball division. What started out as seventy-five, eventually came down to few later in the evening. The hot-seat match pitted Joey Gray and Shane McMinn against each other – Gray held off McMinn for a 7-5 victory. The field finally made it down to the quarters were we saw Darren Everett defeat John Gabriel 5-3. McMinn narrowly escaped Everett in the semis by a close 5-4 ending. But, in the finals, Gray could not stop the momentum of McMinn. The first set was extremely close, ending with a 7-6 set score reflecting McMinn on top. The second set was all about McMinn though as he finished out the weekend with a 5-1 pounding.
The tour has two scheduled events coming up and are working on additional stops, so keep your eyes peeled. Break Billiards in Cahokia, Illinois, will host a $2500 added (open and ladies bar table event) September 6th-7th (entry $35 for both); and on October 9th-12th, Shooters Billiards in Olathe, Kansas, is scheduled to hold a $1000 added one-pocket event (entry $60) and a $4000 total added bar table nine-ball open and ladies events (entry $65 open/$50 ladies). For more information on the tour or to be the first to spot upcoming events, visit their website at www.9balltour.com
Results (women):
1st Heather Lloyd $320
2nd Brittany Colvert $240
3rd Kathy McMinn $160
4th Bonnie Plowman $80
Results (open):
1st Shane McMinn $1100
2nd Joey Gray $770
3rd Darren Everett $500
4th John Gabriel $380
5th/6th Mike Tedder/Dustin Williams $250
7th/8th Chip Compton/Pete Petree $200
9th-12th K.C. Massey/Mark Dimick/Jeff Melton/Brad Huffman $150
13th-16th Tim Ramsey/Gabe Owen/Steve Beason/Lee Moses $100
