As Saturday (March 14) showed signs of turning into the first few hours of Sunday morning, the last three standing in a Q City 9-Ball Tour stop, by mutual agreement, decided to split the top three cash prizes. The hot seat occupant at the time, Chris Clary, agreed to take half of the 1st and 2nd place prizes, while Aaron McClure and Sammy Manley agreed to split what was left of the 2nd and 3rd place prizes. The $500-added event drew 45 entrants to Action Billiards in Inman, SC.
Clary, who’d won the last two tour stops in which he’d cashed (one each in ’25 and ’23), came looking for his third overall and first of ‘26, and officially found it with an undefeated run to the hot seat. Racing to 5 throughout his five-match run to the hot seat, he was given ‘beads on the wire’ twice and played straight-up races in the rest. After a bye, he opened his campaign with two ‘beads’ in a race to 7 against Orlando Meza, whom he defeated 5-5. Two straight-up races to 5 followed, with victories over Casey Looper 5-1 and Carlton Bridges 5-2. Clary drew Hunter Zayas in one of the winners’ side semifinals.
Without a bye, Sammy Manley, also racing to 5 throughout, won five matches, getting into the hot seat match. He awarded two opponents a single ‘bead,’ got a single ‘bead’ against two others and played one straight-up race to 5. He downed Ej Jackson (racing to 4) in his opening round 5-1 and with a single ‘bead’ in a race to 6 against Junior Gabriel, defeated him double hill (5-5). Awarding a single ‘bead’ to August Boatman in a winners’ side quarterfinal, he won a second, double-hill match (5-3) and drew Tommy Tran in the other winners’ side semifinal…