Sixth Annual Scotty Townsend Memorial in the Books

Arena Billiards in West Monroe, LA was the site of the Sixth Annual Scotty Townsend Memorial Pool Tournament. Owners Al Dahal and Subash Khadka and their staff welcomed players and fans to their newly remodeled room.

Local sponsors added $15,000 to this year’s event. They included Golden Corral, Denny’s, Bailey’s Crispy Fried Chicken, Magic Grill, Himalayan Cafe, Joseph J. Long – Attorney At Law, Arena Billiards and PoolActionTV.com.

Roaming the room was Tony Chohan, this year’s Derby City Classic One Pocket champ and fresh off his win over Russian phenom Fedor Gorst in their one pocket challenge match. Roberto Gomez – the current Music City Open champ, Bayou State One Pocket champ and the Midwest Open 10 Ball Invitational champ – was spotted as well as the 2022 Iron City Open One Pocket champ, Josh Roberts. Looking for a win was Warren Kiamco – the 2021 Barry Behrman Memorial, Diveney Cues Bar Box Classic 10 Ball and Buffalo’s Open 9 Ball champ. Last year’s US Open Bank Pool champ and One Pocket Hall of Famer, Scott Frost was seen as well as current Space City Open Banks winner, Robb Saez.

Then there was the red hot Billy Thorpe coming off wins at the McDermott Classic, the Midwest Open One Pocket and the Midwest Open Banks Championships. The always tough Johnathan (“Hennessee”) Pinegar plus veterans CJ Wiley and “Country Calvin” Harcrow, Alex Calderon, Shane McMinn, Joey Barnes, Jason Foutch, Chuck Raulston, Rickey Anders and young guns Chris Reinhold, Sergio Rivas, Justin Espinosa, April Larson and Kennedy Meyman were also spotted.

The event opened with the $7,000 added One Pocket Division. Eight players paid a $1,000 entry fee in this double elimination event. Races were to four with the finals being one extended race to six.

First round action saw Kiamco blitz Gomez while Roberts smoked Haagensen 4-0. Fellow Derby City One Pocket banner winners duked it out with Chohan claiming the win over Thorpe 4-2 and Frost managed to escape a 4-3 dogfight over Hennessee.

Quick as can be, Roberts sent Kiamco west 4-0 and Chohan took down Frost 4-2. Both moved to the hot seat match and Tony took it down 4-2 sending Josh to wait for an opponent on the loss side.

Gomez tore through Haagensen 4-0, Frost 4-1 and Thorpe 4-2 before he was stopped by Roberts 4-2.

Although Josh battled hard in the finals, Tony took the match 6-3 and notched another title! Great job, T-Rex!

On Friday night, the $1,000 added Ten Ball Mini began with a full field of 32 players posting a $125 entry fee. This single elimination tournament was played on the seven footers with races to seven and winner breaks.

Josh Roberts shot out of the gate with wins over Casey Deshotels (7-1), Jody McKoin (7-0), Sergio Rivas (7-3) and Ruben Silva (7-3) before arriving at the finals.

In the lower portion of the bracket, Roberto Gomez squeaked past Warren Kiamco (7-6) and then took down Scott Frost (7-3), Brad Weast (7-2) and Tim Miller (7-0) to face Josh in the finals.

When it was all over, it was Roberto who took it down with a score of 7-4. Attaboy, Superman!

The $6,000 added Open 9 Ball division began on Saturday with 142 players posting their $100 entry fees. Played on seven foot Diamonds, this double elimination tournament was alternate break with races to 9/7.

In dead punch after his one pocket win earlier in the week, Tony Chohan drew a first round bye, then won over Ken Sanders 9-5, Jason McKenzie 9-5, Sergio Rivas 9-7, Jason Foutch 9-7 and Warren Kiamco 9-4 to reach the final four on the winners side.

Chris Reinhold drew a first round bye and beat Terez Love 9-5, Brandon Howard 9-4, Robert Dorsey 9-4, Andre King 9-3 and Ruben Silva 9-6 to make the final four.

In the lower portion of the bracket, Justin Espinosa also started with a bye and then defeated Casey Deshotels 9-5, Ryan Robinson 9-7, Josh Roberts 9-6, Rickey Cook 9-4 and Joe Keith 9-7 to get to the final four.

Johnathan (“Hennesee”) Pinegar also got a bye first round and then went through James McClain 9-5, Bonner Seamans 9-3, Robb Saez 9-5, Matthew Wiseley 9-3 and Shane McMinn 9-5 to reach the final four.

Hennessee smoked Espinosa 9-2 while Chohan sent Reinhold west 9-4 – both advanced to the hot seat match.

The hot seat match was close but in the end, it was Hennessee who locked up his seat in the finals 9-7. T-Rex cooled his heels waiting for an opponent on the one loss side.

Reinhold emerged to face Chohan after escaping Billy Thorpe 7-6 and Kiamco 7-4. However, Tony dusted off Chris 7-3 leaving him in third place. Chohan advanced to the finals.

As this was true double elimination, Tony would have to defeat Hennessee twice to take the title. Looking to make it a twofer, Tony won the first set 9-4. However, it was not to be as Hennessee took the second set 7-4 and claimed the title! Great shooting!

The $1,000 added Women’s 9 Ball division began on Sunday and had fifteen players posting their $100 entry fees. Also played on seven footers, the format was double elimination with races to 7/5 with winner breaks.

Junior champ Kennedy Meyman sliced through the field with wins over Tina Hatten (7-0), Nikki Nugent (7-2) and Gretchen Roa (7-3) to arrive at the hot seat.

Defending champ April Larson defeated Ariane Gaudet (7-2), Juli Bloom (7-1) and Hopey Lawrence (7-0) to join Kennedy for the hot seat match.

The hot seat match was all April as she won the match 7-2. Kennedy then defeated Gretchen Roa 7-4 to face April in the finals. However, due to the late hour the two ladies decided to split. Congratulations to both!

PoolActionTV.com would again like to thank owners Al Dahal and Subash Khadka and their staff for going the extra mile for the players and fans.

We’d also like to thank Tournament Director Jason Hill for doing a great job running the various events.

In addition, Larry Schwartz, Scott Frost, Josh Roberts and Ray Hansen provided topnotch commentary for the various events.

We’d also like to thank our sponsors and fans. Our sponsors include JB Cases, Hanshew Jump Cues, Simonis, Aramith, Lomax Custom Cues, Diamond Billiard Products, Durbin Custom Cues, Savage Billiards, the Action Palace of Dayton, OH and Fort Worth Billiards Superstore of Fort Worth, TX.

Our next stop is the Tenth Annual $14,000 Big Tyme Classic in Spring, TX. Featuring three events – One Pocket, Open Nine Ball and a Ladies Open – the dates are May 3rd-7th! Hope to see you there!

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