Kenny Wilson may not, at first, have seen it coming. Moving into the hot seat, he'd seen neither hide nor hair of his eventual finals opponent, Brian White, who, at the time, was on a 9-game march to the finals from the one-loss side. They met in those finals and Wilson was brought to the brink of elimination before sinking the last 9-ball to finish undefeated on the Great Southern Billiard Tour's stop on the weekend of January 16-17. The $1,500-added event drew 55 entrants to World Cup Billiards in Greenville, SC.
Wilson got into the hot seat following a commanding 7-1 victory over Dale Phillips, and a subsequent hill-hill win in the hot seat match over Sean Davis. Davis had just sent Gary Cairnes west 9-4.
White, in the meantime, who had won his opening round match versus Dwayne Miller and then been sent to the one-loss side by Mike Basha, was working his way back. From among the final 12, with four wins on the one-loss side already, he defeated Jose Tovar 11-3, and Duane Davis 11-5 to pick up Phillips. Greg Gilliam, who'd been sent to the one-loss side by Phillips from among the winners' side final eight, got by Joseph Cole 8-7 and Josh Newman 7-3 for the right to meet Cairnes. The battle to get into the quarterfinals was won by the two one-loss side competitors. White defeated Phillips 11-5, as Gilliam dropped Cairnes 7-3. White then chalked up his eighth straight to drop Gilliam into fourth place 11-3 and turned to face Sean Davis in the semifinals.
In what would prove to be his final victory of the weekend, White defeated Davis 11-4 and turned to face Wilson. The two battled to double hill before Wilson prevailed to take home the first place prize.
