McCready and Rhee Repeat on the Falcon Cue Tour

McCready and Rhee Repeat on the Falcon Cue Tour By Andy LincolnThe Falcon Cue 9-Ball Tour visited the Rockville, MD, Champions Billiards Café on October 4-5, 2003, for Stop #14. This was another $2,000-added event made possible by the host room Champions and Falcon Cues. There were 56 open entrants Saturday and 17 ladies competing in their Sunday-only event. Saturday started out with most of the top players advancing as expected. Late afternoon saw Walter Koch upsetting Ryan McCreesh and an exciting match-up between Keith McCready and Jose Parica. McCready has been playing extremely well lately, finishing third in the U.S. Open and winning last week’s Falcon Tour event against feared Filipino player Francisco Bustamante. He continued his streak with a solid 9-7 win over Parica, the “leader of the invasion.” Saturday afternoon also saw Sueyen Rhee cashing in the open division with a couple of nice wins.
Sunday began with McCready continuing to win with a 9-7 victory over points leader Mike Davis and a convincing win over Doug Sharp. The bottom half of the bracket was dominated by Shaun Wilkie, who advanced fairly easily to the hot seat match against McCready. Both players shot well throughout the match. Wilkie executed a jump shot on the 3 ball with three rails for perfect position in traffic en route to a 9-8 victory. The elimination bracket was heating up as Davis and Parica both focused on winning this tournament the hard way. Davis posted victories over Joe Cataldi, John Tolson, and Lester Mills, while Parica eliminated Billy Cannon, Pete Sawyers, Walter Koch, Nick Prinsloo, and Doug Sharp. The two powerhouses inevitably ran into each other. The crowd gathered and the score reached 6-6 in the quick race to 7. Davis took this match, sending Parica to the sidelines with fourth place. The rematch between Davis and McCready went once again to the veteran, with Davis settling for third place. In his typically entertaining fashion, McCready continued to run his mouth and the table in the finals, winning the first set 9-5 over Wilkie in the true double-elimination format. The second set started out with the players trading games to reach a 3-3 score. McCready then found himself on the wrong side of a 2-9 combo. Unfazed, he sent the cue ball the length of the table two rails through traffic to play a 2-9 billiard straight into the corner pocket. The onlookers let out a cheer that rivaled the level of the rowdy football fans at the packed bar! McCready never looked back, cruising to a 9-3 victory and the $1,000 first-place prize. McCready said afterward, "I am happy that my game is carrying over from the U.S. Open, and it seems like I am getting better each time I play. As long as I can keep my head focused, I have hopes to be in the winner's circle a few more times to come. I am thankful that I have my girlfriend, Jennie, to keep me in line, and if it wasn't for her, I probably wouldn't be where I am at today. I give her a lot of my credit, and I love her very much for putting up with me. I thank the Falcon Cue Tour for providing these events. It is folks like this who help to push pool forward in a positive direction." The usual cast of ladies arrived on Sunday to take their shot at the cash. Sueyen Rhee defeated three of the top five players on the points list in Jinhee Park, Amanda Smith, and Malea Haacke. Her opponent in the hot seat match was Jennifer Dunkin. This was a closely contested match, but ultimately Rhee emerged with a 7-5 victory. Kim Jones lost her first match and worked her way through four matches before losing to Malea Haacke. Dunkin’s appearance on the one-loss side was brief, as Haacke quickly placed her into the third spot. The final match was all Rhee as she took advantage of every opportunity to score a 7-2 win. First place was worth $325, with $215 for second. With his back-to-back tour wins, Keith McCready retakes the top of the points list. The Falcon Cue 9-Ball Tour will be hosting a charity event October 18, 2003, at Orange Ball Billiards in Rockville, MD, with a regular tour event the following weekend at the same location. Complete results of all events are available on the website at http://www.FalconCueTour.com.Visit InsidePOOL for the latest updates from the sport of billiards and pool.

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