This was almost a story about two brothers, Randy and Jeff Jordan, winning the Pro and Amateur divisions of the season finale stop on the Sunshine State Pro Am Tour on the weekend of December 16-17. Instead, thanks to Josh Roberts, it’s about two brothers finishing first (Jeff) and second (Randy) in the Amateur and Pro division tournaments, respectively. And then, there’s an asterisk next to Jeff Jordan’s victory in the Amateur event, because with the two brothers needing to drive back to Georgia on Sunday night, Jeff and Josh Williams mutually agreed to split the top two prizes and not play a final match, leaving Jeff, in the hot seat, as the event’s official winner.
The $2,000-added Pro event, held over the two days, drew 58 entrants, while the $340-added Amateur event, which began and ended on Sunday, December 17, drew 31 entrants. Both events were hosted by Park Avenue Billiards in Orange Park, FL.
The two Jordan brothers ended up in the hot seat in their respective tournaments. Josh Roberts came back from a loss in the Pro hot seat match to defeat the elder Jordan brother, Randy, in the finals of the Pro event, and as noted, Jeff was declared the official winner of the Amateur event when he and Williams opted out of a final match.
Randy Jordan had defeated Mike Delawder 7-5 in one of the Pro event’s winners’ side semifinals to get into the hot seat match. He was joined by Roberts, who’d sent Obbie Cirilo west 7-4. Randy claimed the hot seat 7-3 over Roberts and waited for him to get back from the semifinals.
On the loss side, competition was fierce, as five of the 10 matches between the 9/12 contests and the semifinals went double hill. Cirilo joined the loss-side crowd in the 5/6 matches and picked up the ever-dangerous Anthony Meglino. Delawder drew Bobby Garza. Meglino advanced to the quarterfinals 7-5 over Cirilo, while Delawder and Garza battled to double hill, before Delawder moved on.
Meglino then downed Delawder in a double hill quarterfinal, before himself falling victim to Josh Roberts in a double hill semifinal. Josh Roberts then spoiled the potential brother-party on the soon-to-be ride home to Georgia by defeating the elder Jordan 11-6 in the finals.
An award of $60 was earned by the event’s top-finishing Junior player. It was won by 17-year-old Jordan Burden.
[photo id=48397|align=right]Younger Jordan takes home the Amateur title
In the Amateur event, Jeff Jordan got himself into the hot seat match with a 7-2 win over Trenton White in one winners’ side semifinal, while Josh Williams downed Ted Kershey 7-3 in the other one. Jeff Jordan claimed the hot seat, winning what proved to be his last match of the event, with a 7-2 win over Williams.
On the loss side, on arrival, Kershey and White walked into their second straight loss; Kershey falling to David Grossman 5-2 and White, to Peter Ghostine 5-1 (the 13-year-old White, as the Amateur event’s top-finishing junior, pocketed an extra $20, in addition to the $115 he earned for finishing in the tie for 5th place). Ghostine won the quarterfinal match that followed, double hill, and then fell victim to Williams 5-2 in the semifinals. Jordan and Williams then opted out of the final match, and the Jordan brothers went home with a good (just not as terrific as it might have been) story to tell.
Tour directors Janene Phillips and Bobby Garza thanked Carl Watt and his Park Avenue Billiards staff for their hospitality, as well as sponsors McDermott Cues, Kamui, AZBilliards, BilliardBuzz.com, Jacksonville Roofing USA, Inside Pool Magazine, and Seagram’s 7. The next stop on the Sunshine State Pro Am Tour will be the 2018 season opener. Scheduled for the weekend of January 13-14, 2018, the event will be hosted by Stroker’s in Palm Harbor, FL and feature a 10-ball invitational tournament, open to the winner and runner-up of each of the tour’s 2017 stops (10 of them), along with one junior competitor and two ladies. The 2018 tour has already scheduled 14 stops, from Miami to Jacksonville, FL.
