Wilkie and Lac Win Billiards Gold in Sterling

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Wilkie and Lac Win Billiards Gold in Sterling
Tiger Pool Tour / Sterling, VA
by Skip Maloney
Shaun Wilkie held off a strong surge by Brandon Shuff in the finals but finished undefeated in the Tiger Pool Tour stop the weekend of July 6-7. The Bob Stocks Memorial, hosted by the First Break Café in Sterling, VA, drew 48 entrants to the $1,500-added open tournament and 12 women to the $350-added ladies’ event, won by My-Hanh Lac.
Earlier in the day, Wilkie and Shuff had faced down Matt Krah and Shane Jackson among the winners’ side final four to advance. The hot seat match-up that followed had Wilkie prevailing over Shuff 9-6.
On the one-loss side, Matt Clatterbuck and Danny Green advanced to face each other in the quarterfinals, where Clatterbuck dropped Green into fourth place with a 7-5 victory and then turned to face Shuff in the semifinals. Shuff, looking to at least duplicate his second-place finish on the tour’s last stop, ousted Clatterbuck to get his chance.
Wilkie jumped out to a commanding 8-3 lead in the race-to-11 finals before Shuff fought back to tie it. After trading the next two racks, Wilkie reached the hill first. Shuff had his chances in last game, but Wilkie left him with a jump shot that he missed. With ball in hand, Wilkie closed it out at 11-9 to take first place.
In the ladies’ event, My-Hanh Lac chalked up her second straight Tiger Tour win with a commanding 9-2 victory over Rachel Eliazar in the finals. The final four on the winners’ side of Sunday’s event ended up as the top four finishers.
Pauline Mattes and Rachael Eliazar dropped Sueyen Rhee and Ji Hyun Park out of contention before facing each other in the quarterfinals. Eliazar advanced to face Kim Smith in the semifinals on the heels of a hill-hill victory and went on to challenge Lac. In a race to 9, Lac wasted little time in repeating her victory on the tour’s last stop, defeating Eliazar 9-2 to capture the first-place prize.
Open Results:
1st Shaun Wilkie
2nd Brandon Shuff
3rd Matt Clatterbuck
4th Danny Green
5th Matt Krah
Shane Jackson
7th Manny Chau
Shawn Toni
9th Pooky Rasmeloungon
Eric Moore
Paul Adolini
Steve Lillis

Ladies’ Results:
1st My-Hanh Lac
2nd Rachel Eliazar
3rd Kim Smith
4th Pauline Mattes

Schmidt and Lac Take First at Diamond Billiards

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Schmidt and Lac Take First at Diamond Billiards
Tiger Tour / Midlothian, VA
by InsidePOOL Staff
The Tiger Tour was held at Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA, for the first time May 31-June 1, where the room added a total of $2500 to the event with the help of Jagermeister and a cue donated by John Schmidt’s sponsor, OB1, and the sponsors of the Tiger Tour. Billiard professional John Schmidt took top honors in the open division, while My-Hanh Lac took the ladies’ event.
The open field was a strong one, with 41 players coming out to prevent Chau from taking his fourth tournament in a row and 20 ladies attending for the title of Virginia State champion. Saturday’s line-up included several of the top points leaders of the tour, along with some new faces from the Richmond area.
The surprise visitor from Florida was pro player Schmidt, currently sponsored by the host pool room. Schmidt’s tournament run didn’t allow a single player to reach above four games. He fought his way through to the final four in the winners’ bracket, where he dispatched of David Hunt 9-3 to face Chau. This was a much-anticipated match, but Schmidt sent Chau to the one-loss side with a 9-4 win.
His wins Saturday included Dave White 9-3, Larry Kressel 9-4, and his final match for Saturday against Dustin Paris ended 9-3, taking him into Sunday, where he would meet Richmond local David Hunt in the final four of the winners’ bracket.
After taking an early loss Saturday to Paul Helms, Brandon Shuff began plugging away to get back to the top. He struggled through the one-loss side to best Larry Kressel 7-0 and advance to the semifinals against Chau. He bested Chau a stunning 7-1 to meet Schmidt. The finals weren’t too evenly matched, for Schmidt walked away with the first-place prize after defeating Shuff in an 11-0 victory.
The ladies’ division Sunday saw 20 players vying for the title of Virginia State champion and the much-coveted spot at the WPBA 2008 U.S. Open. With a surprise visit from Virginia’s Governor Gilmore, the ladies were really in the spotlight.
Newcomer to the tour Iris Ranola of Manila, Philippines, appeared to be the toughest competition for Ming Ng and My-Hanh Lac early in the day. The big surprise for the day was longtime friend of the tour, Christine Foster. Foster pushed her way through the winners’ bracket, defeating Ann Bellamy 7-4 and Katie Cowan 7-5 but was sent to the elimination bracket by Lac. She didn’t give up and went on to defeat Sharon O’Hanlon 7-5 for a shot at Ng. Ng didn’t give her a chance, defeating her 7-0, sending Foster into fourth place. Ng and Lac matched up to see who would go on to play Ranola in the finals, with Lac coming up with the win. Lac had already qualified for the U.S. Open and was going strictly for the Virginia State title. Lac came out ahead 9-7 against Ranola, so Ranola will be attending the WPBA 2008 U.S. Open alongside My-Hanh Lac.
Open Results:
1st John Schmidt
2nd Brandon Shuff
3rd Manuel Chau
4th Larry Kressel
5th Danny Green
David Hunt
7th Joey Ryan
Paul Helms
9th Dustin Paris
Eric Moore
Bernie Kirby
My-Hanh Lac
Ladies’ Results:
1st My-Hanh Lac
2nd Iris Ranola
3rd Ming Ng
4th Christine Foster
5th Sharon O’Hanlon
Katie Cowan
7th Cheryl Pritchard
Ji-Hyun Park

Chau and Shea Make Strong Closings

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Chau and Shea Make Strong Closings

Tiger Pool Tour / Rockville, MD
by Skip Maloney
Billiard player Manuel Chau started strong and finished strong in an undefeated romp at the Tiger Pool Tour stop on the weekend of May 3-4. The $1,250-added event drew 64 entrants to Orange Ball Billiards in Rockville, MD.
Chau started on Saturday with a decisive 9-2 victory in the tournament’s opening round, only to struggle through his next three match-ups. By the time he reached the final four on the winners’ side on Sunday, he’d lost 18 of 45 games in his middle three matches. His opponent in that final four, Joey Ryan, had lost 24 of his 54. By contrast, the other two opponents in the winners’ side final four, Shaun Wilkie and Brian Deska, had lost only 26 games combined. Both Deska and Wilkie had each shut out one of their opponents on their trip to the winners’ side final four.
As Wilkie and Deska struggled to a 9-6 Deska victory, Chau embarked on a closing run that saw him lose only 6 of his next 33 games. He defeated Ryan and then Deska 9-2 to move into the hot seat.
Over on the one-loss side of the bracket, Ryan McCreesh, Brandon Shuff, Eric Moore and Shane Jackson met in the final four match-ups there, with McCreesh and Moore advancing. McCreesh tallied his eighth victory on the one-loss side, defeating Moore before turning to Brian Deska in the semifinal match. Deska, having just lost to Chau, turned the 9-2 scoring in that match upside down, defeating McCreesh 9-3 to move back into the finals against Chau. The turnaround didn’t last long, as Chau closed out an undefeated weekend with his third 9-2 victory in a row to capture the first place prize.
In the women’s event, it was Linda Shea who emerged as the winner from a field of 14 entrants. Shea had been knocked to the one-loss side of the bracket by Ming Ng in the winner’s side round of eight and worked her way back through five opponents, losing only 10 games to meet and defeat Ng 9-6 in the final. She defeated Cheryl Squire in the quarterfinal match and Sharon O’Hanlon in the semifinal.
Open Results:
1st Manuel Chau
2nd Brian Deska
3rd Ryan McCreesh
4th Eric Moore
5th Joey Ryan
Shaun Wilkie
7th Brandon Shuff
Shane Jackson
9th Kevin Tsui
Andy Lincoln
Matt Clatterbuck
Women’s Results:
1st Linda Shea
2nd Ming Ng
3rd Sharon O’Hanlon
4th Cheryl Squire
5th Ji-Hyun Park
My-Hanh Lac
7th Spring Helligrath
Ceci Strain

Chau and Ng Conquer All Comers

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Chau and Ng Conquer All Comers
Tiger Pool Tour / Winchester, VA

by Andy Lincoln
The Tiger Tour headed West March 29-30 to Winchester, VA, and found a fantastic new room by the name of Blue Fox Billiards. The room has been open for less than a month, but already the weekend crowds kept the place packed. The tour brought in an additional 63 open division entrants and 13 ladies to claim their stake in the $2,000 added money, with Manuel Chau and Ming Ng winning their respective divisions.
Chau, the 2007 year-end final winner, took on Matt Clatterbuck, the new house pro of Blue Fox Billiards, in the second round. These two rivals fought it out, with Chau winning this one 9-8. Ryan McCreesh and Brandon Shuff both looked strong, advancing over their first three opponents to reach Sunday.
The winners’-side semifinals were uneventful with McCreesh defeating Moore and Chau overcoming Shuff. The hot seat match stayed close, but it was McCreesh taking the 9-6 win over Chau. In the elimination bracket, Moore and Shuff battled it out before each made a mistake at 6-all. Shuff walked away with the fortunate victory, placing Moore into the fourth-place spot. Chau jumped out 6-1 on Shuff but stalled out. Shuff came all the way back to 6-6 before an unlikely scratch on the break ended his tournament. The single-set final race to 11 stayed close most of the way, with McCreesh enjoying the upper hand. Chau closed in at the end and won 11-9.
Thirteen lucky ladies showed up Sunday for the women’s event. Ng, who won the previous tour stop, started her day with a tough matchup with WPBA pro Megan Minerich, where Ng came out on top 7-5. Ng and My-Hanh Lac reached the hot seat match with comfortable wins over Ji-Hyun Park and Nicole Vincent, respectively. This match turned out to be one-sided, with Lac easily defeating Ng 7-2.
The elimination bracket held few surprises as Park took the fourth spot at the hands of Minerich. Ng and Minerich had a close one with Ng coming out on top again 5-4. The single-set final race to 9 with Lac was much different than the previous meeting. Ng won this one with no problems 9-4.
Open Results:
1st Manuel Chau
2nd Ryan McCreesh
3rd Brandon Shuff
4th Eric Moore
5th Matt Clatterbuck
Paul Adolini
7th Shaun Wilkie
Kevin West
9th Larry Kressel
Steve Fleming
Alan Duty
Dale Kokoski
Women’s Results:
1st Ming Ng
2nd My-Hanh Lac
3rd Megan Minerich
4th Ji-Hyun Park
5th Nicole Vincent
Tonya Schetrompf
7th Judie Wilson
Cheryl Squire

Klein and Ng Tops on Tiger Billiard Tour

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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