Qualifying tournaments were held on the last four Sundays to determine eligibility and seeding for the concluding tournament and its $100 first prize. The final was originally set for Veteran’s Day. To avoid conflict with Nov. 11 activities, the players agreed to reschedule the finish to Sunday, Nov. 14.
Watanabe sent John Mongami, Luis Aldan and Brenda Rideb to the losers’ bracket. He then waited to see who would face him in the finals. Rideb defeated Annie Tesiro and Simeon Kapileo.
Kapileo eliminated Mongami, but Cepeda roared back with excellent positioning of his cue ball. He knocked off Tesiro and Aldan, avenged his first round loss to Kapileo, and made Rideb settle for third place.
Watanabe countered Cepeda’s cue ball control by giving him difficult first shots to prevent any runs. His patience paid off and he finished without a loss.
Watanabe and Cepeda finished in a three-way tie, with Mongami also one-point behind top seed Ron Chisato. Mei Rengiil, Kapileo, Erina Olkeriil, Rideb and Bill Kaipat earned seeds in the first round as well. Tesiro, Vince Cabrera, Norman Tenorio, Rick Rengiil and Aldan rounded out the field.
Watanabe took home $17.50. Pacific Amusement is providing trophies for first, second, and third place in the finals, as well as the winners of the qualifying tournaments.
There was a $5 entry fee for the qualifiers, with half going to the winner and the other half going toward the finals pot, so $75.00 will be added to the $150 put up by USSP.
The finals begin on Sunday, 8 p.m. The format is double elimination, following Billiard Congress of America rules.
For more information, call Rose or Ken Phillips at 233-1984.
