Greg Dix, who hasn't won a stop on the Great Southern Billiard Tour since 2007, back in the days when the GSBT was an Open format tournament, broke that string on the weekend of May 4-5 with an undefeated performance at Shore Thing Billiards in Myrtle Beach. The $1,000-added Amateur event drew 29 entrants.
"Greg has always been known as a force at the beach," said co-tour director Marge Cooper. "You ask around and his name'd always come up."
Dix stopped a five-match, loss-side streak by Kevin Brown to capture the event title, and as he moved among the winners' side final four, he found himself matched up against his own father, J.R. Dix. Don Strickland, in the meantime, who'd just sent Brown to the loss side 5-1, faced off against Colin Hall in the other winners' side semifinal. Greg sent his Dad to the loss side 7-3, and in the battle for the hot seat, met Strickland, who'd defeated Hall 5-1. Dix got into the hot seat with a 7-2 victory over Strickland and waited on Brown.
It was the elder Dix who met up with Brown on the loss side; Brown having advanced past John Visotsky 5-2 and Steve Walker 5-1 to reach him. Hall drew Trent Talbert, who'd defeated Bobby Croft and Brian Bryant, both 5-2. Brown and Talbert handed Dix and Hall their second straight defeat - Brown 5-2 over Dix, Talbert 5-3 over Hall - and met each other in the quarterfinals.
Brown chalked up loss-side wins # 4 and # 5 with 5-3 victories over Talbert in the quarterfinals and Strickland in the semifinals. The younger Dix, though, stopped the loss-side streak with a 7-4 win in the finals that secured the event title.
Shannon and Marge continued their string of 'thank you's to the ownership and staff at Shore Thing Billiards in Myrtle Beach, as well as sponsors Nick Varner Cues and Cases, Delta 13 Racks, Andy Gilbert Custom Cues, Tiger Products, and Lomax Custom Cues. The next stop on the GSBT is an 8-ball event, scheduled for this weekend, May 11-12, at Lucky Shot Billiards in Albemarle, NC.
