| 8:45
am came awful early for the competitors in the Northwest on
Saturday January 31. But they did come, 64 of them to be exact.
From Vancouver BC: Stan Tourangeau, Paul Potier and Nick Kruger;
from Longview: Ivan Doty, Mike Jensen, and Tim Robertson; from
Portland: Steve Lingelbach, Justin Lilje, Glenn Atwell and newcomers
Pat Schumacher and Bob O'Hashi. They came from Bend, Spokane,
Trout Lake, Salem, and Springfield. KC's Midway Bar and Grill,
one of the best bars in Oregon for pool action, hosted $1000
added Pechauer Tour Stop.
Chuck ran the player's auction while Carissa drew
the board and matches started at 10:30 on the nose. Play was
scheduled all day and all night long. The last matches on Saturday
finally finished up around 2:30 am - what a day!
The money marches on Sunday promised to be even
more exciting than the marquee match-ups on Saturday: Bill Rosenberry
vs. Ivan Doty, Pon Kanlaya vs. Kenny Dodd, Glenn Atwell vs.
Stan Tourangeau, and Tony Balzer vs. Nick Kruger. It was Bob
O'Hashi and Steve Lingelbach who met in the top half of the
semi-finals on the winner's side of the board, and Stan Tourangeau
against Joe Trevino in the bottom half. Tourangeau made mincemeat
out of Trevino who just couldn't string anything together ending
up 9-1; while O'Hashi gave it a go against Lingelbach but was
stopped in his tracks at 9-5. Glenn Atwell was waiting for Trevino
and Paul Potier stood ready for O'Hashi on the backside. Atwell,
who tends to be the go-to guy when the road dogs come barkin',
claims it is difficult to shoulder the pressure of the likes
of Tourangeau and Potier who routinely place high in the Oregon
and Washington tournaments. He put on a little demonstration
of just why he is the "go-to" guy for the Midway crowd. After
a first round loss to Tourangeau, his endurance and stamina
were put to the test as his loser's bracket trek started at
6:00 pm with Jesse Christensen, an up-and-coming player from
Bend 7-6; 9:00 pm with Mike Jensen, the most underrated open
player in the NW 7-4; 11:00 pm with Dillon Standley, a great
young player from the Springfield area 7-6; and 1:00 am crushing
Pat Schumacher, one of the areas toughest bar table competitors
7-2. Sunday, Atwell really kicked it into high gear, showing
up at just a few minutes after 10:00 am (undoubtedly considered
"on-time" to anyone who calls Glenn a friend!). His first match
of the day was against Justin Lilje, arguably Portland's favorite
hometown boy. Lilje took a sizeable lead on Atwell but couldn't
finish him off. Atwell came back grinding like only he can to
steal the match from Lilje 9-7. He was in no mood to mess around
after that and disposed of Ivan Doty 9-1. Jason Marcoulier was
next on the list with a hard-fought 5 games before Atwell moved
on to Joe Trevino who also worked off 5 games before calling
it a day. Atwell would then face Paul Potier who had left Bob
O'Hashi with a decent 5 th place finish scoring 9-5. And 9-5
seemed to be the favorite score of the day as Atwell, who would
seem to be the underdog, stayed true to form playing his consistent,
methodical, kick-ass style to send that darned Canadian back
out on the road!
Back over in the final match on the winner's side,
Stan Tourangeau and Steve Lingelbach battled it out by dazzling
the crowd in a "who can execute a better safety from a dead-hooked
position?" contest. Lingelbach, who is gaining a reputation
for his system knowledge on the pool table, outmaneuvered the
stealth Canadian 9-6 sending him back to the loser's bracket
for a rematch with Atwell.
Canadian ass-kicking day it was as Atwell exacted
his revenge upon Stan Tourangeau in a "come-from-behind", nail
biting, hill-hill sweatfest! After a see-saw battle toward 9,
Tourangeau gained position on the hill while Atwell only had
5 games. An unforced error allowed Atwell back in the match
and he took full advantage, earning one game at a time to also
reach the hill. In the 17 th and final game Atwell broke and
ran out earning the right to play Lingelbach in the single race
to 13 finals.
In the finals, Lingelbach won the first game but
Atwell got the better of him after fatigue caused both players
to make a few uncharacteristic errors. With a score of 4-1,
Lingelbach spent the rest of the match playing catch-up. Lingelbach's
best run at it was when the match set 11-7 in favor of Atwell.
When Atwell didn't make a ball on the break, Lingelbach ran
out, broke and ran out, broke and was running out again when
he missed a tough 5-ball down the rail, to put Atwell on the
hill. Lingelbach was able to muster one more game before Atwell
sank the final 9-ball to take the title, the thousand dollars,
and the entry in to the Sands Reno Open with a score of 13-10.
The tournament at KC's Midway was definitely
the best yet! The entire weekend ran so smooth thanks to Krista,
Joe, Rachel, and Doug - the staff taking care of the masses of
players and spectators. We kept Sam Rabito, Midway's manager,
on his toes from dusk to dawn and despite all that, he still was
just one round out of the money. On The Wire would like to thank
Kraig Pauli, owner of the Midway for hosting our event; and also
Pechauer Custom Cues for sponsoring the bonus bar table stops!
Whenever you have a choice, please support the sponsors who bring
the tour to you!
|
| 1 st |
Glenn Atwell |
Vancouver, WA |
$1,000 |
200
|
| 2 nd |
Steve Lingelbach |
Troutdale, OR |
$650 |
175 |
| 3 rd |
Stan Tourangeau |
Vancouver, BC |
$425 |
150 |
| 4 th |
Paul Potier |
Vancouver, BC |
$285 |
125 |
| 5 th |
Joe Trevino |
Aloha, OR |
$200 |
100 |
| |
Bob O'Hashi |
Gresham, OR |
$200 |
100 |
| 7 th |
Tony Balzer |
Salem, OR |
$125 |
75 |
| |
Jason Marcoulier |
Bend, OR |
$125 |
75 |
| 9 th |
Matt Bryan |
Beaverton, OR |
$75 |
50 |
| |
Ivan Doty |
Longview, WA |
$75 |
50 |
| |
Brett Seyler |
Springfield, OR |
$75 |
50 |
| |
Frank Rocha |
Tacoma, WA |
$75 |
50 |
| 13 th |
Chuck Mileur |
Troutdale, OR |
$50 |
35 |
| |
Pon Kanlaya |
Portland, OR |
$50 |
35 |
| |
Justin Lilje |
Gresham, OR |
$50 |
35 |
| |
Soud Alabdulrazaq |
Spokane, WA |
$50 |
35 |
|
|
