Tollefson Takes Tiger Tour

Tiger Pool Tour / Rockville, MD

by Skip Maloney

Scott Tollefson weathered a strong challenge from the one-loss side by Bobby Chamberlain to win the Tiger Pool Tour stop the weekend of April 18-19. The $1,000-added event drew 83 entrants to Orange Ball Billiards in Rockville, MD.

All three battles among the winners’ side final four ended in 9-6 victories. Tollefson defeated Ryan McCreesh as Daniel Madden sent Manuel Orino west. Tollefson then gained the hot seat with a win over Madden.

On the one-loss side, Chamberlain benefited from a forfeit and a 7-1 victory over Andy Lincoln to face McCreesh. Manny Chau got by Chuck Curro and Danny Green for the right to meet Orino. Three hill-hill battles followed, with Chamberlain winning two of them in a row and advancing to the semifinals. He defeated McCreesh, as Chau got by Orino and then dropped Chau into fourth place to square off against Madden. Chamberlain got into the finals with a commanding 7-2 defeat of Madden

Tollefson more or less picked up where he’d left off in the hot seat win over Madden, jumping out to an early 4-0 lead in the finals. Chamberlain responded with three straight racks. The two then fought back and forth to an 8-6 Tollefson lead, at which point Chamberlain won three in a row to take the lead at 9-8. Tollefson came right back to tie it, ran the next rack and completed his undefeated weekend with a 2-9 combination that finished the final game.

Results:
1st Scott Tollefson $1,150
2nd Bobby Chamberlain $750
3rd Daniel Madden $500
4th Manny Chau $300
5th Ryan McCreesh $200
Manuel Orino
7th Andy Lincoln $140
Danny Green
9th Jeff Adams $100
Roger Riley
Chuck Curro
Richard Nace, Jr.

Kressel and Eliazar Earn Tiger Pool Stop

Kressel and Eliazar Earn Tiger Pool Stop
Tiger Pool Tour / Winchester, VA

by Skip Maloney

Larry Kressel withstood two potent challenges by Shawn Putnam to capture first place in the open division of the Tiger Pool Tour stop on the weekend of December 13-14. In the ladies’ division, Cheryl Squire, in addition to placing second in tour point totals for the year, came back from a defeat in the hot seat match to win the finals. The $1,000-added open event drew 62 entrants to Blue Fox Billiards in Winchester, VA, while 13 entrants took part in the $500-added ladies’ tournament.

Kressel was gaining momentum as he moved into the final three matches. He sent Brandon Shuff to the one-loss side 9-1 before facing Putnam in the hot seat match. Putnam, fresh off a 9-7 win over Alan Duty, battled to double-hill before heading west to eventually meet Sam Monday in the semifinals.

Monday had worked his way from among the event’s final 12 competitors, defeating Andy Lincoln 7-1 and Ryan McCreesh 7-6 before facing Shuff. John Newton, in the meantime, defeated Matt Krah 7-6 and Shawn Toni 7-5 for the right to meet Duty. It was Shuff and Duty dropping into the tie for fifth, as Newton and Monday moved into the quarterfinals. Monday advanced 7-3 to meet Putnam, who moved back to a rematch versus Kressel with a 7-4 win.

Kressel looked to have things pretty much in control from the start in the finals, jumping out to what looked to be an insurmountable 8-0 lead in the race to 11. Putnam, though, started to chip away, winning two in a row, before giving up the eleventh game. He won two more to make it 9-4 before Kressel reached the hill. Kressel came up dry on the subsequent break and Shawn added three to his total, before Kressel closed it out 11-7 and brought home the first-place prize.

From among the winners’ side final four, Squire, in the ladies’ event, sent Ceci Strain to the one-loss side 7-2, as Rachel Eliazar did the very same thing to Falon Fairleigh. Eliazar sent Squire to the semifinals, gaining the hot seat, and waited for her return. Strain went on to defeat Tiffany Adams 5-1 and met Spring Helligragh in the quarterfinals. She shut Helligragh out and faced Squire.

Squire jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, and after Strain got a single point on the board, reached the hill. Strain battled back to win the next two, but Squire closed it out and moved back for her rematch versus Eliazar. Squire took an early lead that she never relinquished, finally defeating Eliazar 9-4 and capturing the first-place prize.

Open Results:
1st Larry Kressel $1,000
2nd Shawn Putnam $670
3rd Sam Monday $450
4th John Newton $300
5th Alan Duty $200
Brandon Shuff
7th Shawn Toni $140
Ryan McCreesh
9th Russ O’Baker $90
Matt Krah
Andy Lincoln
William Moon

Ladies’ Results:
1st Cheryl Squire $350
2nd Rachel Eliazar $230
3rd Ceci Strain $150
4th Spring Helligragh $100
5th Falon Farleigh
Tiffany Adams
7th Lea Andrews
Tina Morsessis
9th Tina Maraglio
Ji-Hyun Park
Judie Wilson
Shelly Moubray

Davis Defeats Chohan for Top Tiger Billiards Stop

Davis Defeats Chohan for Top Tiger Billiards Stop
Tiger Pool Tour / Midlothian, VA

by Andy Lincoln

The Tiger Tour returned to the new Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA, for their October 25-26 stop. With this being a post-U.S. Open event, many players made the short drive from Chesapeake, VA, to shoot at the $2,500-added purse provided by Diamond Billiards, but tour regular Mike Davis took home the gold.

An extremely tough field of 52 players signed up Saturday with top names such as John Schmidt, Mike Davis, Charlie Bryant, Tony Chohan, and Ronnie Wiseman. There were two first-round power match-ups of note. Current Tiger Tour points leader Brandon Shuff defeated 2006 U.S. Open champion Schmidt 9-5, and Mexican veteran Rafael Martinez stopped high-stakes gambler Johnathan Pinegar 9-5.

However, Shuff and Martinez had short-lived victories as they lost to Chohan 9-8 and David Vaughn 9-7, respectively, in the third round. Local Richmond native Larry Kressel took down room owner Thomas Dorsey and DC area superstar Manuel Chau with a pair of 9-5 scores. Joining Chohan, Vaughn, and Kressel on the winners’ side going into Sunday were Andy Lincoln, Brian White, Leonardo Andam, Davis, and Bryant. Another eight top players remained on the one-loss side.

Sunday play began with Chohan, Davis, and Kressel easily advancing and Vaughn recovering to defeat Brian White 9-8. Chohan and Davis reached the hot seat with little fanfare over Vaughn and Kressel. The hot seat match was close, with Chohan escaping with a 9-8 win.

The story in the elimination bracket was a pair of runs by Pinegar and Josh Roberts. After losing his first match, Roberts strung together seven wins, including over strong players such as Jeff Abernathy, White, Wiseman, and Kressel. Pinegar’s run was equally impressive, defeating Scott Rabon, Shuff, Shane Harvey, Bryant, Andam, and Vaughn. Pinegar continued his run, placing Roberts into the fourth-place spot, but then Davis shook off his disappointing hot seat loss by defeating Pinegar 7-3. The rematch between Chohan and Davis was close the whole way, with Davis taking an 11-10 win in the single-set final.

Results:
1st Mike Davis $1,500
2nd Tony Chohan $1,000
3rd Johnathan Pinegar $700
4th Josh Roberts $500
5/6th David Vaughn $350
5/6th Larry Kressel
7/8th Ronnie Wiseman $225
7/8th Leonardo Andam
9/12th Rafael Martinez $125
9/12th Charlie Bryant
9/12th Andy Lincoln
9/12th Brian White
13/16th Jeff Abernathy $75
13/16th Sam Monday
13/16th Shane Harvey
13/16th Chris Adams

McCreesh and Meraglio Win on Tiger Pool Stop

McCreesh and Meraglio Win on Tiger Pool Stop
Tiger Pool 9-Ball Tour / Winchester, VA

by Skip Maloney

Ryan McCreesh took two from Brandon Shuff to go undefeated in the open division of the Tiger Pool Tour stop the weekend of October 4-5, while Tina Meraglio bested Ming Ng in the finals of the women’s event. The $1,500-added open event drew 35 entrants, and 9 competed in the $500-added women’s event, hosted by Blue Fox Billiards in Winchester, VA.

McCreesh took more of a labored road to the hot seat match against Shuff, giving up 19 racks over the 4 matches it took to get there. Shuff, on the other hand, playing 5 matches, gave up only 12 racks. Among the final four on the winners’ side, McCreesh sent Manny Chau west 9-7, as Shuff sent Chris Bruner over 9-5. In what turned out to be the easiest match of his weekend, McCreesh sent Shuff to the semifinals with a 9-2 victory.

On the one-loss side, a father and son battled for the right to meet Chau, as Matt Clatterbuck and Scott Tollefson fought to meet Bruner. Brian Deska defeated his dad 7-4, with Tollefson ending Clatterbuck’s tournament bid 7-5. Deska then eliminated Chau in a double-hill struggle as Tollefson shut out Bruner. It was Tollefson moving on to the semifinals with a 7-4 victory over Deska. He met a determined Shuff, who dropped him into third place for a second chance at McCreesh.

Shuff opened the finals by jumping out to a 3-0 lead. McCreesh fought back to tie it. They battled back and forth to a tie at 8, when McCreesh took two in a row to reach the hill first. Shuff matched him with two games of his own to knot it at 10. Breaking the final rack, Shuff came up empty. McCreesh sunk the first two balls and then lined up a 3-9 combination that finished the tournament.

In the women’s final, Tina Meraglio defeated Ming Ng to capture the first-place prize. Rachel Eliazar and Pauline Mattes finished third and fourth, respectively.

Open Results:
1st Ryan McCreesh $900
2nd Brandon Shuff $550
3rd Scott Tollefson $380
4th Brian Deska $225
5/6th Manny Chau $150
5/6th Chris Bruner $150
7/8th Ed Deska $100
7/8th Matt Clatterbuck $100
9-12th Richard Barney $55
9-12th Kent Pipkin $55
9-12th Phil Kearns $55
9-12th Danny Bell $55

Women’s Results:
1st Tina Mergalio $380
2nd Ming Ng $240
3rd Rachel Eliazar $125
4th Pauline Mattes  $70

Green and Shea Score on Tiger Billiards Tour

Green and Shea Score on Tiger Tour
Tiger Pool Tour / Arlington, VA

by Andy Lincoln

The Tiger Pool Tour returned to Arlington, VA, September 13-14 for their ninth event of the season. This $2,000-added event was hosted by Champion Billiards Café, a player-owned room and a player favorite in Northern Virginia. Danny Green, tour founder, and Linda Shea walked away with top honors in their respective divisions.

Green, who won last month’s special one-pocket event, started out strong with wins over Dustin Paris and Andy Lincoln. He followed that up by defeating a tough Scott Tollefson to advance to Sunday’s final four on the winners’ side. Shaun Wilkie worked his way through four matches for his trip to Sunday. The top half of the bracket saw Matt Krah easily advance including a 9-4 win over current points leader Manuel Chau. Ilir Jaho joined these players on the winners’ side.

On Sunday, Krah advanced past Jaho and Green took down Wilkie by identical 9-6 scores. The hot seat match was uneventful as Green defeated Wilkie 9-6. The elimination bracket was being fought out with veteran Ed Deska working his way forward. Quality wins over Shane Jackson and Tollefson were followed up with a 9-2 win over Jaho. Wilkie recovered from his loss to Green to squeak past Chau 9-8 before ending Deska’s run 9-6. Wilkie earned a rematch with Green after downing Krah 9-6.

The single-set final race to 11 between Green and Wilkie stayed close the whole way. At double-hill, both players seemed unable to close the deal. There were several challenging table layouts that prevented the easy out, and it was Green who finally snapped out of it to take the win.

A small but strong group of ten ladies entered the women’s event. All ten of these ladies had placed in the money on the Tiger Tour, so there were no easy matches. Cheryl Squire, sponsored on tour by Big Daddy’s Billiards, started her day out with big wins over Ming Ng 7-4 and Linda Shea 7-2. Rachel Eliazar from North Carolina has been playing well lately and sent Squire to the elimination bracket 7-5. Ji-Hyun Park took care of the top half of the bracket with a pair of 7-5 wins over Pauline Mattes and tour owner Ceci Strain. Eliazar captured the hot seat by a 7-4 margin.

In the elimination bracket, Ng and Shea rolled through their matches before meeting up. Shea put Ng into the fourth spot with a 5-4 decision. Another 5-4 score eliminated Park, putting Shea into the single-set final race to 9 with Eliazar. Shea turned it on at this point, winning the final comfortably 9-3.

Open Results:
1st Danny Green
2nd Shaun Wilkie
3rd Matt Krah
4th Ed Deska
5th Ilir Jaho
Manuel Chau
7th Scott Tollefson
Brian Deska
9th Daniel Madden
Shane Jackson
William Moon
Andy Lincoln
13th Joey Ryan
Jose Perez Jr.
Ryan McCreesh
Brandon Shuff

Women’s Results:
1st Linda Shea
2nd Rachael Eliazar
3rd Ji-Hyun Park
4th Ming Ng
5th Ceci Strain
Cheryl Squire
7th Chanta Key
Pauline Mattes