The 2008 Carolina Open One-Pocket division has been underway since Tuesday and is starting to draw to an end at Fast Eddie's Sports Bar and Grill, 1308 Parkway Drive, Goldsboro, North Carolina (www.fasteddiessportsbar.com).
Initially, we mentioned no major upsets, but one person slipped through the cracks. Chris Adams bested Ronnie Wiseman in the first round of play 3-0 and continued on until running into Sam Monday for his first loss at 3-1. Round two saw Virginia's Brandon Shuff move past Michael Fuller in a tight race 3-2 before succumbing to Jeff Abernathy 3-0. Abernathy had his hands full with Charlie “Hillbilly” Bryant as his second round opponent, but he snuck by 3-1 before he and Shuff met up. Abernathy's next match should test him as it is Tony “T-Rex” Chohan.
Chohan has already taken down Barry Boney 3-1, Charlie Brinson 3-0, and Mike Davis 3-1 along the way. Another known name, Earl “The Pearl” Strickland had a good start until running into Scott Rabon in round three. Strickland beat Brian White 3-1 first off and Calvin Ferrell 3-1, before being dominated by Rabon 3-0. Rabon will meet up with Sam Monday next, who flew past Chris Steele 3-0 and squeaked by Texas' Sylver Ochoa 3-2, before his match with Adams in which he won 3-1. Leaving on the winner's side, Jeff Abernathy v. Tony Chohan and Scott Rabon v. Sam Monday.
On the one-loss side, Ochoa had been breezing by his opponents including Joe Russo 3-0, Craig Wolfe 3-0, but was tested by Mike Davis in the next round as his streak was ended 3-0. Sidney Champion pushed past several players as well but Shuff ended up being too tough of a match-up for him – Shuff won 3-1 in that race. Brian White ended his event at the hands of Virginia's Larry Kressel today 3-1 as did another player, Chris Adams 3-2 in the 5 pm matches. While Ronnie Wiseman ran over Hillbilly 3-1, but his reward ended up being in the form of Earl Strickland which he took quite handily 3-1, sending Strickland packing. We are now down to eight players! The next rounds should most definitely be interesting to say the least and as soon as the matches are complete, we will have them updated online throughout the night.
Remember, Thursday begins the Open Ten-Ball Tournament with a mandatory player's meeting at noon, play after. This event is $10000 added (based on 128 players) with an entry of $200, races to eleven on both sides of the board and in the finals one race to fifteen.
AZBilliards.com will continue to provide brackets and updates throughout the week for those that can't make it to the site. If you are interested in participating in the ten ball event, contact the room directly at (919) 759-0071. The venue will remain open 24 hours during the week. Additional information can be found here.
