Davis and Park Win Marathon Event on the Planet Pool 9-Ball Tour

Davis and Park Win Marathon Event on the Planet Pool 9-Ball Tour Andy LincolnStop #2 of the Planet Pool 9-Ball Tour took place over the February 21-22, 2004, weekend at First Break Café in Sterling, VA. This poolroom is a player favorite, and 121 shooters came out gunning for the $1,750 in added money. Room owner Stefano Araviakis and his hard-working staff were kept busy ensuring that everyone was kept fed and happy.
Saturday was a long day as the 97-player open division field was reduced to 32 by midnight. Last event’s winner, Keith McCready, and runner-up Richard Keefe both dropped 7-6 decisions to Alan Duty and Shawn Toni, respectively, in the first round. Tour Player of the Year for 2003 Mike Davis and Joss Tour regular Tom D’Alfonso both looked strong and remained unthreatened going into Sunday.The next morning began early as 10:30 a.m. matches were scheduled to get things underway. Jim Henson took down Shane Moore 9-2 and then stopped Mike Davis 9-5 to reach the hot seat match. The top half of the bracket featured D’Alfonso romping over Jerry Slivka and BJ Ussery by 9-2 scores. The 18-year-old Josh Brothers was not rattled by those impressive numbers and secured a hill-hill thriller to meet Henson in the winners’-side final. This match was all Henson as he cruised to a 9-3 victory.On the one-loss side, Davis knocked out Lee Holt and then D’Alfonso, who settled for fourth. Davis then eliminated Brothers to seek revenge against Henson. The first set stayed even until 5-5 when Davis grabbed the next 4 games for a 9-5 win. The second set got started around 12:30 a.m. early Monday morning, and Davis was completely in gear. Henson barely got to the table and never had much to shoot at when he did. Davis took the tournament with a convincing 9-2 score. First place paid $1,300, with $800 for second.Twenty-four ladies came in Sunday morning to get their event started. Malea Haacke survived the shortened first-round match 5-4 over Amy Rodgers and continued on to reach the winners’-side final. Her opponent would be tour regular Jin Hee Park, who defeated Melanie Balisano, June Prescop, Gwen Dickert, and Ellen Yu on the hill. The match with Haacke was all Park, who took a 7-2 victory for the hot seat. Rodgers was busy in the elimination bracket ever since her first round loss and eventually put Darlene Lewis into fourth place. She then gained her revenge on Haacke 5-2 to take on Park in the double-elimination final. The first set was close all the way, and Park captured the 7-6 decision for her first Planet Pool Tour win.The points list is underway, with Mike Davis taking a slight lead over Keith McCready. Gwen Dickert takes the top spot with her high finishes in the women’s division. Complete results of all events are available on the website at http://www.planet-pool.comOpen Results:1st Mike Davis2nd Jim Henson3rd Josh Brothers4th Tom D'Alfonso5th Shane Moore, Lee Holt7th Tony Ricci, Ryan McCreesh Women's Results:1st Jin Hee Park2nd Amy Rodgers3rd Malea Haacke4th Darlene LewisVisit InsidePOOL for the latest in the sport of billiards and pool.

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