The Tiger tour headed west March 29-30 to Winchester, VA to Blue Fox Billiards. The room has been open for less than a month but already the weekend crowds kept the place packed. The tour brought in an additional 63 Open division entrants and 13 ladies to claim their stake in the $2,000 added money. The room was outfitted with 14 new Simonis covered Diamond tables.
2007 yearend final winner Manuel Chau took on Matt Clatterbuck the new house pro of Blue Fox Billiards in the 2nd round. These two rivals fought it out like the always do with Chau winning this one 9-8. Ryan McCreesh and Brandon Shuff both looked strong advancing over their first 3 opponents to reach Sunday. Chau joined these two players along with several tour regulars in Alan Duty, Eric Moore, Dale Kokoski, Larry Kressel and Steve Fleming.
McCreesh, Moore, Chau and Shuff advanced on Sunday. The semifinals were uneventful with McCreesh defeating Moore and Chau overcoming Shuff. The hot seat match stayed close but it was McCreesh taking the 9-6 win over Chau. In the elimination bracket, Moore and Shuff battled it out before each making a mistake at 6-6. Shuff walked away with the fortunate victory placing Moore into the 4th spot. Chau jumped out 6-1 on Shuff but stalled out. Shuff came all the way back to 6-6 before and unlikely scratch on the break ended his tournament. The single set final race to 11 stayed close most of the way with McCreesh enjoying the upper hand. Chau closed in at the end and won 11-9. 1st was worth $1000 with $700 for 2nd.
In the women's division, Ming Ng, who won the previous tour stop, started her day with a tough matchup with pro Megan Minerich. Ng came out on top 7-5. Ng and My-Hanh Lac reached the hot seat match with comfortable wins over Ji-Hyun Park and Nicole Vincent respectively. This match turned out to be one-sided with Lac easily defeating Ng 7-2.
The elimination bracket held few surprises as Park took the 4th spot at the hands of Minerich. Ng and Minerich had a close one with Ng coming out on top again 5-4. The single set final race to 9 with Lac was much different than the previous meeting. Ng won easily 9-4. 1st was worth $380 with $250 for 2nd.