Klein and Ng Tops on Tiger Billiard Tour

Posted by admin as Billiard Tour News - Tiger Planet Pool Tour

Klein and Ng Tops on Tiger Billiard Tour
by Rick Davis
Chip Klein and Ming Ng dominated the weekend as each went undefeated in the Tiger Pool Tour’s open and women’s divisions, respectively. Taking place February 15-16 at Hagerstown Billiards and Café in Hagerstown, MD, the 82-player open event and 20-player women’s event had fierce action until the winners were crowned late Sunday night.
In the open event Klein started with a bye then defeated two tour heavyweights, Ryan McCreesh 9-6 and Matt Clatterbuck 9-2. On the same corner of the chart another top Northeastern player was handed a defeat when Shaun “Get Some” Wilkie was sent left by Kevin West 9-5. West was on his game and in the next round sent top pro Dennis Hatch away 9-5; however, Klein was waiting and defeated West 9-6 to reach the hot seat match. On the other half of the bracket Matt Krah was coasting along, taking five wins after a first-round bye to meet Klein in the hot seat match.
On the one-loss side the action was just as riveting. Brandon Shuff was working on a comeback after his mid-event loss. Shuff took five one-loss side wins to reach the quarterfinals, eliminating Clatterbuck 7-3 and Hatch 7-5 along the way. The final section of the one-loss side had Wilkie keeping pace as he took four more wins before facing a rematch against West. Once again West had Wilkie’s number, though, and advanced to the quarterfinals by virtue of a 7-5 win.
The event was down to the top four players. Klein slipped past Krah double-hill in the hot seat match, while Shuff drilled West 7-2 in the quarterfinals. Shuff came out on top again in the semifinals, where he sent Krah home then advanced to face Klein. With a single, extended race to 11, both players were giving it their all, but in the end Klein took the win with a 2-rack advantage and eliminated Shuff 11-9 to earn the tour stop win.
In the women’s division Ng blazed her way through four matches to reach the hot seat match, while Megan Minerich did the same. After a short showdown Ng defeated Minerich 7-4 to have control of the winners’ side. On the one-loss side Linda Shea woke up after her first-round loss to take five matches to reach the quarterfinals. Nearby, Cheryl Squire also recovered from her loss, taking a trio of wins to face Shea. In no time Shea had advanced her streak again, eliminating Squire 5-2 then Minerich double-hill to reach the finals after an impossibly long comeback run. That run may have taken its toll, however, as Ng wasted no time picking Shea apart and taking the match 9-4 to be crowned champion.
Open Results:
1st Chip Klein
2nd Brandon Shuff
3rd Matt Krah
4th Kevin West
5th Shaun Wilkie
Don Steele
Women’s Results:
1st Ming Ng
2nd Linda Shea
3rd Megan Minerich
4th Cheryl Squire