"Rocket" Goes Off in Texas

By Harrison Todd and Bill Rosenberger

After the first two Corpus Christi Classic 9-Ball Challenges, tournament director Harrison Todd had t-shirts made with back-to-back winner Gabe Owen's name o­n the back.  "Rocket" Rodney Morris brought his game to make sure that name o­n the back of next year's shirt changed. 

The event, held each of the past three years at Paradise Pool & Billiards, which Todd owns, has brought many of the sport's top players. This year he made sure the 71-player field was just as tough.  Many of players signed up because of Todd's reputation but also because of the level of competition.  However, getting Morris to play was a different story.

Todd was in Reno, NV, in June watching an event at the Sands Regency, when he spotted Morris, who had just completed an undefeated weekend.  Upon congratulating him o­n his performance, Morris indicated that he would not o­nly play in the October event but win it.  "Gabe [Owen] has won your event the past two years, and I'm going to come take care of him," stated Morris.

Interestingly enough, Owen faced Morris at the 2004 U.S. Open and used the challenging words against him, besting him in a middle-round match.  Later, Owen told Todd that he was inspired by the victory and would be ready to play in Texas.  Coincidentally, Owen didn't bring his A-game and failed to even finish in the money, as he was knocked from the tournament o­n Saturday.  In an early evening match against Corpus Christi native Shane Evans, he fell 9-6, and in the following match, South Texan Charlie Mora proceeded to oust him from the tournament 9-6.

The three-day 9-ball challenge started Friday, October 29 and finished Sunday, October 31.  Through the first two days, Morris didn't exactly dominate, but he didn't struggle either.  o­n Saturday, he defeated another local Christopher Cox 9-3, and then staged a comeback against Gilbert Lopez.  Down 6-1, he worked the match to the hill and pulled out with the victory.  In a later match, Morris trailed Moises Herrera 6-2 but came back to win that match 9-7 to advance to the quarterfinals against Jeremy Jones.  Jones, however, pulled out the victory to earn a spot in the hot seat match against Texas State Open Champion Jui Lung Chen.

Morris took his game to the west side to play Bob "Big Game" Hunter, who is o­ne of the world's finest custom cue makers.  The match played tight, but Morris squeaked by with a win to advance to the semifinals.  His opponent, again, was Jones, who fell to Chen in the hot seat. 

With a spot in the finals o­n the line, Jones and Morris played aggressively, trading games back and forth.  With the scored tied at 7-all, Jones came up dry o­n the break, leaving Morris to run out for a o­ne-game lead.  In rack 16, after Jones had fouled, Morris went for a 3 foul win, which is tough to do against a top o­ne-pocket player.  Morris, though, stood tall and came away with the 9-7 victory for a spot against Chen in the finals.

Chen had quietly dominated all weekend long, preferring to stay outside of the hoopla surrounding so many Texas players.  Chen, though, gained momentum, not just in his game but from the fans who watched him defeat a talented lot that included local favorite Shane Evans.  Chen also knocked out Robert Ruiz, Daryl Owens, Javier Franco, Steve Smith, and Jones to reach the finals. 

The Taiwan, whose best english is said to be o­n the cue ball, faced Morris in the single race-to-13 final match.  Morris played almost flawlessly, while Chen came up empty o­n many of his breaks.  Down 9-3, Chen pulled it together to win the next four games to get within two.  They traded games back and forth to put the score at 11-9, and in the next game, Chen missed an easy 2 ball, and Morris ran up until the 9, but left himself a tight bank shot.  He had to play a three-rail shot and somehow got the 9 to fall for the 12-9 advantage.  The bank shot, which may have been the clincher for Morris, seemed to carry over into the final two games.  Chen managed to claim the next rack and also sink a ball o­n the ensuing break.  However, he missed the 1 ball, and "The Rocket" ran out the rack to capture the victory 13-10.

Results:

1st Rodney Morris $3,500

2nd Jui Lung Chen $2,200

3rd Jeremy Jones $1,600

4th Sylver Ochoa $1,100

5th Bobby Hunter, Shane Evans $850

7th Charlie Bryant, James Roberts $550

9th Steve Smith, James Davis Sr., Bill Fuller, Javier Franco $325

13th Charlie Mora, Daniel Nelder, James Davis Jr., Rick Stanley $225