Mason and Rocha Reap Billiards Rewards

Mason and Rocha Reap Billiards Rewards
Viking Cue Open 9-Ball Tour / Richardson, TX

The Viking Cue 9-Ball Tour held two events the weekend of September 15-16, crowning Al Mason king of the open division, while Henry Rocha took top honors in the amateurs. Hosted by the brand-new Billiard Den in Richardson, TX, this event attracted a total of 66 players.
Mason started his trek to the open division finals with a 9-2 win over Rositza Nikolova, a 9-0 blinking over Jim Colling, a 9-6 victory over Dylan Weinheimer, and a narrow 9-7 escape over Robert Newkirk. He then faced down Jack Lynch 9-6 for the hot seat.
Adam Jones of Las Vegas lost his first-round match to Chris Trulin 9-3 and faced a long road to the finals. He scored a 7-2 win over Scott Nguyen, another 7-2 victory over Dan Bowman, a 7-5 win over Paul Driscoll, and won 7-3 over up-and-coming junior player Steven Brown. After wreaking revenge on Trulin 7-2, Jones went on to defeat Newkirk 7-5, Claude Gragg 7-5, and Lynch 7-3 in the semifinals. In the finals, though, he was no match for Mason, who busted him 9-1.
In the amateur division, which featured 27 players, Rocha started off with a hill-hill victory over Jim Collin 5-4, a 5-1 win over Trey McMullen, another double-hill score over Newkirk 5-4, yet another nail-biter over Cris Pian 5-4, and a 5-0 whitewashing over Jim Talmon to win the hot seat.
Pian defeated Christian Torres 5-3 and Tori Jones 5-4 but was issued his first loss 5-4 by Rocha. On a roll, Pian fought back to win over Curtis Clack 5-2, Weinheimer 5-4, and Talmon 5-1 in the semifinals. Jones, however, was unimpressed by this run and had little trouble sending Pian home with a 5-1 victory.

Open Results:

Amateur Results:

1st
Al Mason

1st
Henry Rocha

2nd
Adam Jones

2nd
Cris Pian

3rd
Jack Lynch

3rd
Jim Talmon

4th
Claude Gragg

4th
Dylan Weinheimer

5-6th
Dyan Weinheimer

5-6th
Ray Amaro

Robert Newkirk

Curtis Clack

7-8th
Chris Trulin

7-8th
Tori Jones

Ray Amaro

Lance Sullivan