Davis Takes First Tiger Win, Hospedales Stuns the Field
Tiger Pool Tour / Laurel, MD
by Andy Lincoln
Billiards News – Side Pockets in Laurel, MD, was the host for the eighth stop of the Tiger Pool Tour the weekend of July 7-8. Most of the top players were present and ready to take their shot at the $2,000-added money, but it was Northeast terror Mike Davis and newcomer Simone Hospedales who took home the lion’s share.
Saturday action kicked off with 60 players in the open division event. Brandon Shuff started the day off right with a victory over last event’s winner Danny Mulhollen III. Shuff continued his impressive play with wins over pro player Davis 9-6 and tour regulars Brett Stottlemyer 9-8 and Loye Bolyard 9-4. The bottom half of the bracket looked to be firmly in the control of Shaun Wilkie, who gave up just 12 games in his first 4 matches. Joining Shuff and Wilkie in the final four undefeated going into Sunday were Virginia’s finest, Matt Clatterbuck and Larry Kressel. Eight players remained on the one-loss side.
On Sunday, Shuff gave himself a birthday present in the form of a hard-fought win over Clatterbuck. Wilkie also had his hands full with Kressel but advanced with a 9-7 score. Wilkie continued into the hot seat with a 9-5 win over Shuff.
The story in the elimination bracket was Davis sending one player after another home. After sending four players to the sidelines Saturday, Davis continued his run by eliminating several other strong players. Brian Deska, Joe Russo, and Kressel fell before Davis met up with Clatterbuck. Davis advanced 7-2, placing Clatterbuck into fourth place. Another 7-2 win by Davis ended Shuff’s day. This set up the single race-to-11 final between Davis and Wilkie. Davis won this one 11-7 for his first win on tour this year.
A field of 15 ladies came out to play Sunday. Points leader My-Hanh Lac came out all business, defeating her first two opponents 7-0. She followed this up with a 7-3 win over Falon Farleigh to reach the hot seat match. Tour regular Malea Haacke also rolled with wins over Cheryl Squire, Kim Smith, and Sharon O’Hanlon with little problem The match between Lac and Haacke went to Lac 7-3.
Hospedales traveled all the way from Trinidad in the Caribbean on an extended pool-playing vacation. She suffered a second-round loss 7-6 to Farleigh but came back with three wins in the elimination bracket. Another Hospedales win sent Sherry Pouncey home in fourth place. A see-saw battle with Haacke was won 5-4 by Hospedales, putting her in the single-set final with Lac. Hospedales quickly found herself down 3-1 to Lac in the race to 9, but she fought back, taking advantage of several of Lac’s mistakes to tie the score at 7-7. A couple games later, and Hospedales came away with a 9-7 score to win her first Tiger Pool Tour event.
Open Results:
1st Mike Davis
2nd Shaun Wilkie
3rd Brandon Shuff
4th Matt Clatterbuck
5th Larry Kressel
Brett Stottlemyer
7th Joe Russo
Andy Moursund
9th Luther Farley
Tai Bui
Brian Deska
Loye Bolyard
Women’s Results:
1st Simone Hospedales
2nd My-Hanh Lac
3rd Malea Haacke
4th Sherry Pouncey
5th Falon Farleigh
Sharon O’Hanlon
7th Kim Smith
Jin Hee Park
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