Chen Nails Down Fast Eddie's Season Opener

Chen Nails Down Fast Eddie's Season OpenerBy InsidePOOL Staff The Fast Eddie's Olhausen 9-Ball Tour sponsored by Schuler Legacy Cues kicked off the 2005 season with its first event on January 8-9 at the new showcase Fast Eddie's World Class Billiards location in Houston, TX. A large and talented field of 73 players showed up in hopes of tearing it up on the tables.The top players in attendance included Jui Lung Chen, Sylver Ochoa, Denis Strickland, and David Henson, just to name a few. In the end, only one player would walk away a winner, and it came down to two players, Ochoa and Chen who have shown in the past that they were contenders. Ochoa, who won three Fast Eddie's events in 2004, bested Stan Fry, Troy Johnson, Kenny Greer, Javier Franco, and Robert Clark. But it wouldn't be his last meeting with Clark, as the two would later meet in the semifinals.Chen's 2004 was a breakout year with two top-ten finishes on the Fast Eddie's Tour, along with a second-place finish at the Corpus Christi Classic. His event consisted of wins over Ted Dean, Manuel Ayala, and Tommy Milburn to set up his first match with Ochoa. In the hot seat match, both Ochoa and Chen were looking for the right time to run away with the match, but it was Chen's late surge that propelled him to a 9-6 win. Ochoa then met Clark in the semifinals, and again, he got the best of him with a 7-3 win.Chen and Ochoa, both up-and-coming players, met in what would be an exciting final match. They battled back and forth, using jumps, safeties, and finesse to reach 7-all. But Chen got control of the table in the last two games to come through with a 9-7 win. Results:1st Jui Lung Chen $2,9952nd Sylver Ochoa $2,0803rd Robert Clark $1,3204th Javier Franco $8605th Robert Newkirk, Tommy Milburn $4807th King Drake, Raul Escobedo $3209th Denis Strickland, Richie Somner, Manuel Ayala, Kenny Greer $120 Visit InsidePOOL for the latest news from the Fast Eddie's 9-Ball Tour.

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