Owen and White Win Titles in Texas

By R.T. Mechling  The Fast Eddie's Olhausen 9-Ball Tour held its fifth event of the year the weekend of April 30-May 1 at the South Gulf Freeway location in the Rocket City, Houston, TX.  The competition was fierce as 82 players in two divisions, including 16 ladies in the women's event, came to duke it out for the titles in Houston.  This excellent field was topped-off by Gabe Owen and Kim White, who captured titles in their respective divisions.

Owen, the current U.S. Open champion, began the tournament with convincing wins over Chris White, James Davis Jr., Charles McKinley, and Doug Young.  The hot seat match placed him opposite the table of Houston's Charlie "Hillbilly" Bryant, who had an incredible comeback victory in the previous match over fourth-place finisher Manny Guerra 9-8.

In the battle for the hot seat, Bryant and Owen both seemed determined to advance to the final; however, Owen's tenacious play gave him the edge as he notched a 9-6 win. Bryant's journey to the west side set up a meeting with Kenny Greer, whom he easily dispatched 7-4 to earn another shot at Owen.

Both Owen and Bryant appeared a bit unsettled as the tournament title was o­n the line. Some unforced errors kept the match close; however, Owen used some advantageous play to dash Bryant's hopes and take home the title by a score of 9-6.

In the women's division, Kim White, Amanda Lampert, Belinda Lee, and Helen Hayes headlined the field of 16 ladies.  Houston's Rebecca Goodnight had an impressive tournament as she steamrolled the competition to earn a fourth-place finish, while Hayes bucked against an early loss to Lampert to make an outstanding run through the o­ne-loss side to finish third. 

Houston's Lee started her race through the winners' bracket with triumphs over Tasha Salandanan, Sherry Smith, and Goodnight to move into the hot seat against White.  In her second consecutive hill-hill match, White bested Lee to move o­n for a chance to capture the title.  Lee's quest for a rematch propelled her to comfortably defeat Hayes 7-3, setting up the all-Houston final.  Both ladies played with grace and dignity, but White prevailed over Lee 7-3 to take her second event of the tour season.

Open Division Results:

1st Gabe Owen $3510

2nd Charlie Bryant $2400

3rd Kenny Greer $1650

4th Manny Guerra $1050

5th Scott Kephart, Doug Young $540

7th Charles McKinley, Tommy Milburn $330

9th Erman Bullard, Bill Fuller, Aaron Salinas, Jeremy Jones $120

Women's Division Results:

1st Kim White $535

2nd Belinda Lee $330

3rd Helen Hayes $200

4th Rebecca Goodnight $120

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