The Tiger Tour's amateur 8-ball event at First Break in Sterling, Virginia started with bad news on Saturday. We are sad to announce that long-time tour supporter and friend of many a regular tour player, Bill Elliott, passed away unexpectedly early on Saturday morning from severe complications stemming from lung cancer. Bill will be missed by all and his memory will live on in our hearts and minds.
In the tournament, Brandon Shuff made full use of home ground advantage. A minor setback in the form of Jerry Johnson sending Shuff to the one-loss side in their clash early on Sunday only incited Shuff more to take this one down. Shuff escaped narrowly against Steve Luskey, winning that match from 3-0 behind. In the semi-finals, Shuff had sweet revenge against Jerry Johnson, sending Johnson home in 3rd place, and then faced another local boy, Paul Helms in the final. Helms had had a great tournament thus far, going undefeated until he let his 3-2 lead against Shuff slip into a 7-3 defeat.
In the women's event, it was Pauline Mattes who took a determined lead, putting Kathleen Lawless in the one-loss side and defeating newcomer Amy Krajci to take the hot seat. She was intent on winning this event in honor of Bill Elliott. "I'm going to win this one for Bill," she said before the tournament started. But Lawless made a comeback by slicing through the loser's bracket to have another shot at Mattes. But Mattes followed through and won her first ever Tiger Tour event by beating Lawless 5-3 in the final. Amy Krajci took third.
The next Tiger Tour stop is an amateur 8-ball event back at First Break in Sterling, VA on Sept 16-17. The Tour is also in Cambridge, MD on Sept 23-24 for its $4,000-added US Open Warm-Up event. Please see www.pooltour.com for details.
