The Atlantic 9-Ball Tour is known for its large fields and stiff competition. Winning a tour event is a feat in itself, let alone winning multiple tour events. To cap off 2016, Greg Wilson managed to capture back-to-back tour events.
In November, over the weekend of the 18th-20th, 114 players signed up for the Open division of the Atlantic 9-Ball Tour # 3 of the 2016/17 season. By Sunday, the field had whittled down to the final 16. Results from the A-side matches saw Greg Wilson over Aldei Doucet 9-6, Chris Penney winning hill-hill over Brian White, Kevin McGee over Angela Belding 9-4, and Rocky Johnson over Richard Young 9-7. On the B-side, Reid Virtue defeated Dana Murphy 9-1, Bill MacPherson eliminated Jeff Kennedy 9-6, Gilles LeBlanc ousted Yvon Robichaud 9-3, and Tom Theriault sent Kyle Richard packing 9-2. This set up the next matches on the B-side, where Doucet bested Virtue 9-4, MacPherson beat White 9-5. Belding overcame Leblanc 9-6, and Richard Young edged Theriault 9-8.
The final 8 results were Wilson 9-2 over Penney and Rocky 9-5 over McGee on the winner’s side. On the loser goes home side, Doucet stopped MacPherson 9-8, and Young ended Belding’s impressive effort 9-1. Belding’s 7th-8th finish was the highest female finish in the Open draw of an Atlantic 9-Ball tour event. Following that, Doucet and Penney each won over McGee and Young, 9-5 and 9-6 respectively.
The A-side final was captured 9-5 by Johnson, sending Wilson to deal with the winner of Penney vs Doucet, which Penney won 9-3. Wilson then defeated Penney 9-5 to get a second chance at Johnson in the final. Wilson made the most of that chance winning the one set final 13-10.
The Women’s event at tour stop # 3 had 16 ladies participating. On the B-Side, Janet Ritcey defeated Janette Ball and Leigh Ann Giles defeated Lynanne Cutler,leaving Ball and Cutler in 5th-6th place. Ritcey then took down Giles to reach the B-Side final. Her opponent would be decided when Monette McCue lost to Angela Belding in a clash of the last two unbeaten players. McCue would then go to the left side of the board, coming up short again, in a loss to Ritcey. In the final it was Belding capturing the ladies event with a 7-3 win.
December 16th-18th brought the last Atlantic 9-Ball tour of 2016. 93 players braved the not so pleasant whether to challenge for the Open Division of tour event #4. In the battle of the final 16, the A-side results were Jeff Kennedy over Dana Murphy 9-6, Jean-Guy Belliveau 9-5 over Aldei Doucet, Jason Thomas 9-7 over Dwayne Thompson, and Terry Gulliver victorious over Wayne Thibodeau 9-7. On the B-side, Robert Young beat Carl Sampson 9-8, Gordie Lynch beat Chris Penney 9-6, Greg Wilson beat Jarrett Campbell 9-5, and Dick Barker eliminated Jeff Saulnier 9-4. In the loser places 9th-12th round, it was Murphy 9-8 over Robert Young, Lynch beating Doucet 9-7, Wilson taking out Thompson 9-5, and Barker sending home Thibodeau 9-3.
The final 4 on the winner’s side was decided by two hill-hill battles. Jean-Guy Belliveau won over Jeff Kennedy, while Terry Gulliver won over Jason Thomas. On the B-side, Lynch beat Murphy 9-7 and Wilson beat Barker 9-5. Those winners then carried right on, with Lynch winning over Thomas 9-8 and Wilson beating Kennedy 9-7. Then to reach the B-side final Wilson got past Lynch 9-5.
The A-side final featured the first time two B players had reached this milestone together. Gulliver staked his place in the final with a convincing 9-2 victory over Belliveau. Gulliver would then await his final opponent, while Belliveau, despite a very successful weekend, just didn’t have anything left in the tank, dropping his next match to Wilson 9-2. In the final, Gulliver made a match of it, being the first to reach 9 games won, but in the extended race, one set final, Wilson was not to be denied, taking the match by an eventual score of 13-9. The win marked two tour event titles in a row for Wilson, and his third win overall, making him the first player to reach 3 events won on the Atlantic 9-ball tour.
For tour event #4, the Women’s had event had 17 ladies competing. Finishing in the money were Cathy Horgan, dropping a 7-5 decision to Janet Ritcey, and Monette McCue losing out to Kelly Brimicombe 7-4. Brimicombe then eliminated Ritcey 7-4, leaving Ritcey in 4th place. In the A-Side final it was Angela Belding over Jennie Saulnier 7-2, setting up a B-side match-up between Brimicombe and Saulnier. Saulnier pulled out a resounding 7-2 victory to get another crack at the tournament favorite Belding. This time it was Saulnier turning the tables with a 9-5 final victory, capturing her first Atlantic 9-Ball tour win.
The next Atlantic 9-Ball tour will be January 27th-29th, as always, at Almon Billiards.
