Kong is King of Queens

By Bill Rosenberger

It wasn't King Kong that stormed through New York o­n October 16-17 to take the first NYC Billiards Tour event.  It was Joe Kong who ate up the event held at Spin City in Queens.

Tournament director William Finnegan said Kong was the very last entry and just got in.  "He called and told me to hold a spot for him," said Finnegan.  The large 48-player field was a surprise to many because it was the tour's first stop and Finnegan wasn't sure how would turn out.  "To get that many entries for our first event is great," he said.  "We had some great players come out from all over the area, and we'll shoot for sixty-four in November."

Along with Kong, other top New York players competed including Joey Korsiak and Frankie Hernandez.  But the weekend belonged to Kong, who would take down Danny Barouty in the finals. 

The two players met first in the hot seat o­n Sunday, in a match that would be a great prelude to the finals.  Barouty and Kong battled back and forth to reach the hill.  Barouty ran out the final game for the 9-8 win.

Rob Pole who had just ousted Korsiak in the quarterfinals, now faced Kong in the semifinals.  In another fierce match, Kong pulled out o­n top 9-7.

The finals rematch was exciting for the fans to watch.  Barouty and Kong again battled back and forth, with neither player pulling away.  The score reached 10-all, and Kong took over, breaking and running his racks to win 13-10.

Results:

1st Joe Kong $1,500
2nd Danny Barouty $700
3rd Rob Pole $460
4th Joey Korsiak $350
5th Simon Lau, Eddie Vasguez $180
7th Redgie Cutler, Mhdet Verga $90