You don't find men and women squaring off against each other in the finals of a tournament very much. It's rare, but it happens, as it did on Saturday, July 11 at Anytime Billiards in Jacksonville, NC. The occasion was a stop on the Q City 9-Ball Tour, which drew 33 entrants. As it turned out, though Paul Swinson and Lindsey Walton were scheduled to face each other in the finals, the match didn't happen. Swinson and Walton opted to split the top two prizes, leaving Swinson, in the hot seat, as the official winner of the event.
They both competed in a winners' side semifinal, though not against each other. Swinson faced Danny Farren, while Walton battled Wayne Haire. Swinson sent Farren west 6-4, while Haire did likewise to Walton 7-4. Swinson claimed the hot seat 6-5 over Haire.
On the loss side, Walton ran into her boyfriend, Jason Lawson, who'd defeated Dustin Boone and Paul Swinson's son, Graham, both 5-2. Farren drew Montez Lloyd, who'd eliminated Bo Miller and a player known only as Lupe, both 7-3. Farren survived a double hill battle versus Lloyd, while the girlfriend downed the boyfriend 5-4.
Walton then defeated Farren, double hill, in the quarterfinals, and wrapped up both her loss side run, and her evening, with a 5-4 win over Haire in the semifinals. She and Swinson opted to split the top two prizes, with Swinson, undefeated, claiming the event title.
The next stop on the Q City 9-Ball Tour will be the NC State 10-Ball Championships. Scheduled for the weekend of July 18-19, the event will be hosted by The Brass Tap, in Raleigh, NC.
