Tony Crosby parlayed some serious TOT (time on table) practice time into a second straight event victory. Having won his first Seminole Pro Tour stop on the weekend of May 22-24, he followed it with a victory on his own KF Cues Open 9-Ball tour on the weekend of May 30-31. The KF Cues stop drew a record-breaking total number of players to Bank Shot Billiards in Jacksonville, FL. The $1,000-added Open event drew 54 competitors, while the $750-added amateur event drew its own record-breaking number of 83.
Crosby's path to his third KF Cues win hit a snag among the winners' side final four, when he met Stoney Stone. The two battled back and forth to double hill, before Stone prevailed. Han Berber, in the meantime, sent David Grossman west 7-5 to get into the hot seat match. Stone survived his third hill-hill match of the tournament versus Berber and waited in the hot seat for what proved to be Crosby's return.
Waiting for Crosby on the west side was Mike Davis, who'd gotten by Mark Wathen and Ramsey Barrett by identical 7-2 scores to meet him. Grossman faced Neil Fujiwara, who'd defeated Josh Lewis 7-4 and Jason Richko in a hill-hill struggle. Davis got out to a 2-0 lead before Crosby settled in to win seven in a row, and move into the quarterfinals. Fujiwara joined him after surviving a hill-hill struggle versus Grossman.
Crosby dropped Fujiwara into fourth place 7-5 and repeated that score in a victory versus Berber in the semifinals. He turned back for a revenge re-match versus Stone and in his own words, “came out flying.”
Crosby took an early 5-1 lead, before Stone mounted a comeback, winning five of the following seven racks to get within one at 7-6. But it was, as they say, ‘all she wrote,' as Crosby took command of the final two racks to take home his third victory on the KF Cues tour.
According to Crosby, it was taking advantage of some practice opportunities that has improved his overall performance and led to his two straight event victories.
“I had some trouble getting in practice time before,” he said, “but I was able to get a few hours in on my own and it's made a big difference.”
“I even video-taped myself,” he added. “I learned that I'd become a very lazy pool player; lazy at the table and making all the wrong decisions. I'd been making the game harder and now, I'm playing simple pool again.”
Crosby commended Jeff and Joanie Scott, owners of Bank Shot Billiards for “putting on a good show,” noting that the venue will soon become a stop on the Seminole Pro Tour. Crosby's next stop will find him at Stroker's Billiards in Palm Harbor, FL (June 13-14), where, as house pro, he'll look to win his third straight event and fourth on his own tour.
