 Kevin Welling, Sylver Ochoa, Rafael Martinez and room owner Gary Welling |
As always, a strong contingent of top professional players made their way to G-Cue Billiards in Round Rock Texas on September 1st - 3rd for the Texas Open 9-Ball Championship.
The top seeds included Gabe Owen, Jeremy Jones, Mike Davis, Charlie Bryant, Rafael Martinez, Tony Chohan and Cliff Joyner. Even with that kind of 9-ball firepower on display, it was local hotshot Sylver Ochoa who was the last man standing when the event drew to it's conclusion early Tuesday morning.
While other players seemed to fade as the event ground on, Ochoa played better and better. A 9-5 win over Al Mason and a 9-6 win over Gordy Vanderveer was followed up by a 9-3 win over David Gutierrez. Next was a 9-4 win over Rafael Martinez for the hot-seat.
On the one loss side, the late time was getting the best of the players. Gabe Owen won a brutal hill-hill match with Mike Davis, but had nothing left for his next match against Martinez and lost 9-3.
Martinez set his sights on Ochoa in the finals and hoped to avenge his earlier loss, but Ochoa cruised to a quick 6-2 lead and never looked back as he scored a 9-5 win for the victory.
Open Division Brackets
Ladies Division Brackets
Photo gallery
Day Two Photo gallery
Photo courtesy of Jean Gonzalez
