The Viking Cue 9-Ball Tour made their way to one of South Carolina's newest pool establishments, Grady's, in Lexington the weekend of September 22-23, 2007, with both a $1500 added open and a $500 amateur event.
The open division started on Saturday with a strong field of fifty-one players including the likes of room owner, Grady “The Professor” Mathews, Mike Davis, Louis Ulrich, Stevie Moore, Scott Rabon, Dallas Roach, Mike Staubes, Mike Gulyassy, Jeff Abernathy, and Eddie Little to name a few. The field also included six women players that took a shot at the men by taking advantage of a free entry.
When the dust settled on Saturday evening, the final eight players that would return at noon on Sunday in the winner's bracket were determined: Jim Jennings v. Rodney Holland; Sam Brannon v. Louis Ulrich; Stevie Moore v. Mike Davis; and Mike Gulyassy v. Scott Rabon. The one-loss side had an early start scheduled with sixteen players: Chris Steele v. Monroe Jones; Pete Sawyer v. Mike Staubs; T.K. Kennedy v. Eddie Little; Marcus Goins v. Mike Champagne; Grady Mathews v. Dallas Roach; Randy Hatten v. Rex Alred; Josh Roberts v. Steven Todd; Jeff Abernathy v. Buddy Dennis.
Several of the top players made a quick exit on Sunday due to fantastic play by their opponents, but Louis Ulrich, Mike Gulyassy, and Stevie Moore continued to dominate the playing field. Ulrich started Sunday with wins over Sam Brannon 9-4; and Rodney Holland 9-2. Other players working their way to the finals: Stevie Moore knocked off Mike Davis 9-6; Mike Gulyassy 9-1; and then lost to Louis Ulrich 9-7 for the hot-seat. This set-up a re-match with Gulyassy in which he ultimately lost in a tight race 7-5.
Although Mike Gulyassy won against Scott Rabon 9-5 his first round of the day, he was forced to continue through the one-loss side (courtesy of Moore) where he squeezed by Jim Jennings with a 7-6 success, and after his win against Moore in the semi-finals, made his way to the final round, where he ended his road with a loss to Louis Ulrich 9-6.
As if the tournament win was not enough, Louis Ulrich was one lucky guy this weekend as well. The tour had cue raffles going on throughout the event, but after purchasing only one ticket, Ulrich took home a beautiful four point sneaky pete Viking cue.
In addition to the open division, the amateur event started crisply mid-day on Sunday, with twenty-nine players. The eventual winner of this tournament, Dave Cook, did not allow a player to obtain more than two games on him during any single match (Rick Ratliff 5-1; Matt Reed 5-2; Dwayne Moritz 5-0; Mike Basha 5-2).
The second and third place finishers played fantastic throughout the day as well. Matt Reed came into Sunday with guns blazing as he took down Chris Zayas 5-2; D.J. Czech 5-2; Billy Mozingo 5-1; and Joe Kelly, Jr. 5-3. His loss to Dave Cook of 5-2 sealed his place in the semi-finals against Jose Fairas, Jr..
Although third place finisher Jose Fairas, Jr. lost his first round match to Rory Dover 5-4, he immediately starting plowing through the one-loss side with wins over Katie Cowan 5-2 ; Chris Zayas 5-2 ; Ben Fisher 5-0 ; Billy Mozingo 5-4 ; Joe Kelly, Jr. 5-0; and after battling through the semi-final match, propelled Reed into the final round by a score of 5-4.
The finals saw Dave Cook and Matt Reed lock horns for the second time of the day, however, Cook continued the day's trend of not allowing anyone to stack up more than two games and he took down Reed with a score of 5-1.
Special thanks to Grady Mathews for providing a great atmosphere for the players this weekend.
Click here for open payouts.
Click here for amateur payouts.
