San Antonio, TX, WPH Press, 4/16/25
Race 4 Eight #1 and 13-time Race champion Martin Mulkerrins served as the tournament director and top seed at the 2025 Aggieland Classic in San Antonio, TX on the second weekend in April. The 2025 Aggieland Classic featured sixty-one players in men’s and women’s singles and doubles brackets.
Men’s Open Singles
Martin Mulkerrins coasted to the final in the upper bracket of the thirteen-player men’s open field, defeating Jeff Wall and Holden Smith to book his spot in the final.
Adam Bernhard and Diarmuid Mulkerrins met in the bottom bracket semifinals, with both making their first tournament starts in five months. The Bernie/Diarmuid rivalry has featured several close matches over the past year and the Aggieland matchup would be no exception. Mulkerrins dominated the first, never allowing Bernie to settle into the game. “You wouldn’t know it (he was out for five months) from his first game or so,” stated Bernhard. “Was a buzzsaw (in that first game).”
Bernhard worked his way into the match in game two, playing “Bernie Ball” to thwart the Mulkerrins buzzsaw. “Game two was a well-rounded fight on my part and little by little took a lead and won,” Bernhard would later say. “My dad said the falling rust was apparent match my match.”
Bernie continued to be in control in the third, as the fatigued Buzzsaw was unable to offer much resistance as Bernie moved into the final to face the top seed.
Martin was too strong in the final, never trailing and winning the 2025 Aggieland convincingly. “About twenty-five percent of Martin’s points came on aces,” an exhausted Bernhard would later say, who is looking forward to competing in the Pete Tyson Classic R48LTE on his home courts at Gregory Gym in Austin at the end of April. “Felt great to play for real (in my first tournament in five months). Lots of room for improvement ahead.”
Semifinals
Mulkerrins def H. Smith 15-2, 15-8
Bernhard def D. Mulkerrins 8-15, 15-7, 11-2
Final: M. Mulkerrins def Bernhard 15-7, 15-2
Follow the brackets from the 2025 Aggieland Classic HERE