It was a bruising win for Tony Crosby, who came back from a second-round defeat to win the finals of the KF Cues Open 9-Ball Tour $1000 added event held on October 25th and 26th at Strokers Billiards in Palm Harbor, Florida. On the winner's side, John Demet made his way to the finals beating Adam Wheeler 9-7, Jason Richko 9-6, and Mark Wathen 9-8. This would him pit him against WPBA player Tracie Hines in the hot-seat match. Hines had prior wins over Stephanie Mitchell, Bob Eaton, Josh Degler, and Jose Del Rio.
Demet took the hot seat with a tough 9-6 battle against Hines. Crosby lost a second round match to Josh Degler, but never looked back with wins over Bobby Livrago 9-4, Bob Eaton 9-3, Julio Aquino 9-7, Jason Richko 9-3, Jose Del Rio 9-7, Tony Ruberto 9-2 and eventually Tracie Hines 9-2 in the semis. Crosby continued his streak with a strong 9-3 win over Demet in the final round.
Congratulations to top junior player in the main event, Taz Naravane – he beat out Bryce Lepak in the play off for the honor.
In the amateur event, Jose Ybarra went undefeated against thirty-two players to claim his first KF amateur tour title with wins over Hank Samuels 7-6, Johnny Demet 7-4, Jesse Langston 7-4, and Mike Rodriguez 7-4. The finals pitted him against Orlando pool room owner Ted Lepak. Lepak battled Stephanie Mitchell 7-6, Richard “Turtle” Knight 7-6, Brett Hawes 7-6 and Louie “The Spoiler” Smith 7-5 to move to the hot-seat match where he was overcome by Ybarra 7-3.
Josh Degler on the one-loss side went on to win eight straight matches against names such as Stephanie Mitchell 7-4, Johnny Demet 7-4, Jim Oddy 7-4, Bryan Davidson 7-3, Jose Delrio 7-3, Mike Rodriquez 7-3, Louie Smith 7-3, and finally winning against Ted Lepak in a hill-hill match to take his place in the final. Jose Yabarra ended Degler's streak with a 9-4 win to claim the title.
Thanks to Strokers pool room for hosting the event and to our title sponsor KF Cues.
We would also like to recognize our latest sponsors OzoneBilliards.com, Simonis cloth and Master Chalk. Visit www.kfcuetour.com to see our sponsors and upcoming events.
