Texas Open Continues in Round Rock
Texas Open / Round Rock, TX
by Skip Maloney
Shane "The South Dakota Kid" Van Boening is amongst a host of great players vying for the Texas State Open title at G Cue Billiards in Round Rock, TX.
Shane Van Boening, Sylver Ochoa, and Jeremy Jones headed a list of 128 players who signed on to the $3,250-added men’s competition of the Texas Open, hosted by G Cue Billiards in Round Rock, TX, Labor Day weekend. Split into two brackets, the men’s event commenced on Saturday morning, with both 64-player brackets advancing winners, on average, with scores of 9-4.
By Sunday night, Van Boening, Cliff Joyner, Marc Garza, and Charlie Bryant had advanced to the round of eight winners in their bracket. Van Boening sent Matt Wong, Tommy Sanders, and Douglas Winnett west to open his tournament bid and will face Tommy Tokoph for a bid to join the bracket’s final four winners.
Joyner trod a similar path to the final eight, posting a 9-1, 9-2 and a 9-5 victory to move into a match against Frank Ferrer, Jr., who, after victories over Daniel Fairburn and Donnie Ottaberry, advanced on the heels of a double-hill victory over Leroy Mathis. Bryant and Garza advanced to meet each other; Bryant with a 27-4 record going in, Garza with a 27-7 record. James Davis, Sr. awaited the results of a match between Charles Smith and Jacob Warriner to determine who he’d be facing for a chance to be among the bracket’s final four winners.
James Davis, Jr., in the meantime, was busy working his way through his bracket and was among the final 16 winners there, as were Sylver Ochoa, Jeremy Jones, Gabe Owen, and Glen Atwell. This bracket was the only one to record a shut-out— two of them, in fact—in its opening round; Ochoa sent Tom Wallace west that way, as Dave Henson did likewise to Sam Jones. Ochoa went on to defeat Danny Leteff to move into a round of 16 battle against Mike Banks, as Henson advanced past Louis Pacheco to take on Noel Torres. Jones and Atwell both survived double-hill battles to meet each other in the same round of 16.
The $750-added ladies event, in the meantime, which drew 28 entrants, had whittled its way down to the final eight winners, with last year’s champion Kyu Yi, leading the way. Yi followed an opening round bye with a 7-3 win over Kim Sanders and is set to face Bonnie Plowman, who survived a double-hill battle in her opening round and defeated Elizabeth Kirkman 7-4 to advance. Michelle Abernathy is set to meet Audra Carter, Cristina Dela Garza faces Heather Lloyd. Amanda Lampert has already advanced to the winners’ side final four with a 7-4 victory over Heather Lloyd.
Visit InsidePOOL for the latest news in the sport of billiards and pool.