Felipe Razon Victorious At 3-Cushion Regional Qualifier!

Felipe Razon

January 23-25, 2009

The historic Pendennis Club founded in 1881 located in Louisville, Kentucky recently hosted a USBA Regional 3-Cushion Qualifier. Chris Clodfelter, General Manager and members of this beautiful venue welcomed a field of twenty-four 3-cushion players to become part of their special history.

The format consisted of 4 flights of 6 players playing in standard round robin fashion. Matches were played to 20 points each with the top 2 players from each flight plus 2 wild cards advancing to the final 2 groups of 5 players each. Four players received “seed” placement into the initial brackets. These included National Champions George Ashby and Hugh Patino and rising superstars of the sport Felipe Razon and Dan Kolacz. This event was also honored to have Tinker Zimmerman, the solo lady entrant in the field. After years of being a faithful spectator and fan of the sport, “Tinker” decided to enter this event.

Ashby, Razon, and Patino displayed true championship form as they performed brilliantly winning their respective brackets with perfect 5-0 records. A highlight of the event was a high run of 11 points by Patino. Gary Eake from WI garnered the fourth bracket lead with a record of 4-1. Second place finishers in the 4 brackets were Dan Kolacz, Paul Frankel, Peter Hull, and James Stoner. Tom “Dr. Cue “ Rossman and Gregory Warren finished with 3-2 records each with 86 and 85 points respectively, earning the 2 “wild card” spots for final round play.

The stage was set for the final 2 groups of 5 players each after a very successful 2 days of preliminary matches. The 1st bracket of players were Patino, Eake, Kolacz, Frankel, and Rossman, while the 2nd bracket of players competed the final 10-player field with Razon, Ashby, Hull, Stoner, and Warren. The final day of matches started right on schedule. Patino and Kolacz from Flight E and Razon and Ashby from Flight F coasted to victory as the 1st and 2nd place finishers in each bracket. 3rd place in each finals bracket was won by Paul “Professor-Q-Ball” Frankel and Jim Stoner. These 2 determined players finished with identical win-loss records of 2-2 and identical point totals of 59 each.

Patino, Kolacz, Razon, and Ashby all earned their Nationals entry at no charge, but had to play a final match to determine the overall positions of finish in the Qualifier event and ranking points assigned by the USBA. Razon performed brilliantly as he defeated Patino by a score of 20-17 for 1st place honors. Meanwhile, Ashby sailed to victory over Kolacz 20-12 to win 3rd place positioning. The final match with Frankel and Stoner was a tense battle to see who would garner the remaining free entry to the Nationals. Stoner played very well but in the end lost to Frankel by a score of 20-14.

Special Note: The 2009 National 3-Cushion Championships will be held February 18-22, 2009 at Carom Café Billiards, 34-02 Linden Place Flushing NY, 11354, Phone: 718-358-8585.

Players finishing in the top 10 positions for the event were Felipe Razon (1st), Hugo Patino (2nd), George Ashby (3rd), Dan Kolacz (4th), Paul Frankel (5th), James Stoner (6th), Peter Hull (7th), Tom Rossman (8th), Gregory Warren (9th), and Gary Eake (10th).

Preliminary Charts:
Flight A
Flight B
Flight C
Flight D

Placement into Final Groups from Preliminaries

Finals:
Flight E
Flight F

Final Matches to Determine Placement

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Professor-Q-Ball is proud to announce that due to overwhelming response, a USBA 3-Cushion Qualifier has been scheduled on January 23-25, 2009 at the Historical Pendennis Club in Louisville, KY.

The Pendennis Club

Winners will receive cash and free entry into the 2009 National 3-Cushion Championships to be held February 18-22, 2009 at Carom Café Billiards, 34-02 Linden Place, Flushing NY, 11354, Phone: 718-358-8585

Format will be determined on the number of players.

Here is a sample format with 25 players:

Entry fee $130, 5 flights of 5 - Round robin matches. Matches will be to 20 points.
The top 2 players from each flight advance to the finals.

Finals: 10 Players – 2 groups of 5 players – 20 points.

The first place finishers of each of the two flights in the Finals will play each other to decide 1st and 2nd place – 20 points. The second place finishers of each of the two flights in the Finals will play each other to decide 3rd and 4th place, and so on. The top 5 finishers will win cash and entry into the 2009 National 3-Cushion Championship.

Paul Frankel - "Professor-Q-Ball"

During the event Professor-Q-Ball will also entertain you with his Sleight of Hand Magic and Dr. Cue (Tom Rossman) with his Trick-Shots Wizardry.

Tom Rossman - "Dr. Cue"

We look forward to providing the “finest” in billiard competition and entertainment to each of you.

Dress Code: Pants, shoes, collared shirt. No jeans, no T-shirts, no sneakers.

Anyone that is interested in playing in this qualifier please contact:
Paul Frankel at 901 756 2594.

Hotel:
Econo Lodge
401 S. 2nd Street
Louisville, KY

502.583.2841 (Direct)
Approx. 2 blocks from Pendennis Club

Rates: If you are over 60, the senior rate is cheapest $ 55.96 per night rate.
For paid USBA Members, call the Choice Hotels Sports Desk at 800 424-6423 and use your USBA discount code from your Membership Package. Car rental discounts are also available through the USBA Membership Package.

Regular rate is $ 69.95 per night for a King Bed. With USBA discount, it is $ 59.95 per night for a King Bed.

Contact Paul Frankel

901 756-2594 or cell 901 210-7251

www.pendennisclub.org has directions