Tony Williams gave up only three racks in his last 17 games to finish undefeated on the Great Southern Billiard Tour stop on the weekend of June 13-14. The $1,000-added, A/B handicapped event drew 38 entrants to World Cup Billiards in Greenville, SC.
While finishing with a flourish, Williams last step to the hot seat match was a hill-hill struggle that sent David Rice to the left side. John Thompson, in the meantime, taking advantage of a handicap that required him to reach seven racks before Josh Roberts reached 11, sent Roberts over 7-8. In the hot seat match that followed, Williams gave up one of the three racks he'd give up in his last two steps to the event victory.
On the one-loss side, Brad Shearer was working his way back from a fourth round defeat that at the hands of Josh Roberts to an eventual matchup versus Williams in the finals. In three straight 7-5 wins, he moved past Landon Shuffett, JR Poste and Rice. Matt Mancini, who'd worked his way back from an opening round defeat at the hands of Poste, met Shearer in the quarterfinals after seven victories on the one-loss side, including wins over Chris Zayas 9-5, Mike Basha 9-4 and Roberts 9-5. Shearer dropped Mancini into fourth place 7-2 and with a 7-5 win in the semifinals, finished Thompson's bid to move back against Shearer.
Williams and Shearer, both with ‘B' handicaps squared off in a true double elimination final race to seven. Williams made the second set unnecessary, defeating Shearer 7-3 to capture the first place prize.
