by Lea Andrews

Though they chose different routes to get there, George Saunders and Tommy Kennedy both ended up in the same place the weekend of January 9-10: the KF Cue Tour winner’s circle at Capone’s Billiards in Spring Hill, FL. While Saunders went undefeated to top the $1,000-added, 40-entrant amateur event on Saturday, Kennedy rebounded from an early loss to Mike Davis in Sunday’s $1,000-added open event to capture his second KF Cue Tour victory this season.

Saunders got past Josh Lewis to reach the hot seat match, where he faced Dan Dennis, who was coming off a win over Joe Scarborough. A hard-fought 7-6 win left Saunders the sole undefeated competitor, and Dennis moved to the left side to look for the rematch.

To get there, though, he’d have to get past Derek Greenwood, who’d been moving through the west side after taking a hit from Saunders, marking up strong wins over Louis Altes, Bill Dunsmore, Scarborough, and Lewis to reach the semifinals. The finals would be a rematch no matter what, but it was Dennis who earned it, and when he reached the single race-to-9 final match, he made a strong case for himself, pushing the score to 8-8. But it was Saunders who topped the safety battle in the final rack, pocketing the final 9 to notch his first-ever KF Cue Tour win.

Dan Dennis and George Saunders

On Sunday, as Kennedy was moving steadily through the elimination rounds to reach the finals, Justin Hall was making his way through the right side, posting a 7-5 win over Davis to reach the hot seat match against Louis Altes, who’d just shut out Wesley White. Against Hall, though, Altes had no such luck, moving to the other side 7-4.

On the one-loss side, Kennedy, who’d run through Elvis Rodriguez 6-3, Derek Greenwood 6-0, and Lewis 6-2, faced Davis once again, allowing him only one game in a race to 6 and planting Davis in fifth. After a 6-3 quarterfinal win over Richie Richeson, who’d just ousted White, it was semifinal time for Kennedy, who allowed Altes to reach the hill but took the final rack for himself.

In the single race-to-7 final match, Kennedy went ahead and let Hall reach the hill, too, but when Hall broke open the final rack and left all the balls on the table, Kennedy took over, making the 1 and the 2 to set up a 3-9 combination, which he nailed for his second win this season.

Kennedy and Rocky McElroy

Amateur Results:
1st George Saunders $550
2nd Dan Dennis $400
3rd Derek Greenwood $300
4th Josh Lewis $200
5th Joe Scarborough $100
Louie Smith
7th Bill Dunsmore $75
Bill Delisle
9th Coot Highsmith $50
Bill Stoll
Louis Altes
Wesley White $50

Open Results:
1st Tommy Kennedy $500
2nd Justin Hall $400
3rd Louis Altes $300
4th Richie Richeson $200
5th Wesley White $100
Mike Davis

by Skip Maloney

Donnie Mills and Elvis Rodriguez took home top honors in the open and amateur divisions of the KF Cues Open 9-Ball Tour the weekend of December 13-14.

Donnie Mills and Elvis Rodriguez took home top honors in the open and amateur divisions of the KF Cues Open 9-Ball Tour the weekend of December 13-14. The $1,000-added open event on Saturday drew 23 entrants to Hammerhead’s Billiards in Holiday, FL, while the $700-added amateur event on Sunday drew 62 players and stretched on into the early hours of Monday morning.

Mills, according to tour director Tony Crosby, was “pretty much unstoppable all day” on Saturday. He faced 56 racks on his way to the winner’s circle and gave up only 16 of them. From among the winners’ side final four, he defeated Jose Aquino 9-4 to move into the hot seat match against Mark Coats. Coats, who’d bested Crosby in a hill-hill match in which Crosby reached the hill first, went to the semifinals on the heels of a 9-3 Mills win.

Adam Wheeler and Josh Lewis were on the one-loss side waiting for Aquino and Crosby. Aquino advanced 9-7, but Crosby dropped into the tie for fifth place with a 9-5 defeat at the hands of Lewis. Aquino then defeated Lewis in the quarterfinals 9-5 to face Coats in the semifinals. Aquino moved back for a rematch against Mills with a 9-7 win over Coats. In the finals that followed, Mills prevailed 11-5, bringing home the $610 first-place prize.

Rodriguez’ romp through the 62-entrant field of the amateur event included double-dipping Mike Delawder in the hot seat match and finals. Both of the matches leading up to the hot seat match were double-hill affairs, with Rodriguez sending Mark Wathen west and Delawder doing likewise to Johnny Demet. In the hot seat match, Rodriguez shut Delawder out and began a long wait for his return.

Wathen and Demet would end up in the quarterfinals and play the third of four hill-hill struggles among the event’s final six match-ups. Demet advanced to the semifinals against Delawder where he fell victim to the last hill-hill win of the day. In deference to its late start, the amateur finals were reduced to a race to 7, which, taking advantage of a number of unforced errors by Delawder, Rodriguez won 7-3.

Open Results:
1st Donnie Mills $610
2nd Jose Aquino $400
3rd Mark Coats $300
4th Josh Lewis $200
5th Adam Wheeler $100
Tony Crosby
7th Dan LaVoie $70
Jim Sandaler
9th Taz Naravane
Elvis Rodriguez
Johnny Demet
Dave Roth

Amateur Results:
1st Elvis Rodriguez $730
2nd Mike Delawder $500
3rd Johnny Demet $300
4th Mark Wathen $200
5th Jose DelRio $125
Paul Lecain
7th Jimmy Hines $75
Bob McCulley
9th Francisco $50
Jose Ybarra
Trey Jankowski
Adam Wheeler

German hopes for another world title suffered a major setback today as three of their biggest stars all tasted defeat. Thomas Engert lost to Elvis Calasang of the Phillipines 8-3, Oliver Ortmann fell 8-7 to Farhad Shaverdi of Iran and Thorsten Hohmann came up short 8-4 against Serge Das of Belgium. None of these players is as yet out of the running as it would take another defeat to eliminate any of them, but now they are all on the proverbial tightrope for staying in the field.