Earl Strickland picked up his second victory in four attempts this season on the Jacoby Custom Cues Carolina Tour on the weekend of August 21-23. Strickland's last victory on the tour came in June, between a third place place finish in May and a fifth place finish earlier this month. The $1,000-added event drew 24 entrants to Fast Eddie's in Goldsboro, NC.
From among the winners' side final four, Strickland sent Cary Dunn west 7-4, as B.J. Ussery defeated Eddie Little 7-5. Strickland sent Ussery to the semifinals 7-2 and awaited what turned out to be Little's return.
On the one-loss side, John Hernandez met Dunn, after a 7-2 win over Bernie Kirby and a 7-5 win over Brent Hensley. Little picked up Chip Klein, who'd advanced past Mac Harrell 7-3 and defeated Tony Morrison in a hill-hill battle. Klein's victory over Morrison ended a strong three-match showing by Morrison in the west bracket, in which he had advanced past Jeff Abernathy, Sam Monday and Keith Bennett.
Dunn and Little moved into the quarterfinals following Dunn's 7-2 win over Hernandez and Little's 7-5 win over Klein. Little got his opportunity for a re-match versus Ussery with a 7-3 win over Dunn and then battled Ussery to hill-hill in the semifinals before prevailing and getting a shot at Strickland.
Little drew first blood in the race to 9 finals, but Strickland tied it immediately and added five in a row for what looked to be a commanding 6-1 lead. Little, though, fought back in the middle games of the matchup and won three in row to get within two. Strickland closed it out with two to take home the first place prize.
An 11-entrant Early Bird Tournament on Friday featured Ussery and Dunn in the finals, with Dunn winning it 7-4 to take home the $130 first prize. Younger Chapman finished in third place. A 7-entrant Second Chance tournament on Sunday was won by Brent Hensley with a 7-4 win over Bernie Kirby. Casey Bradshaw was awarded the Ladies prize, as Jerry Jones, Jr. was named the event's Junior winner.
