It was a beautiful July weekend in Palatka, Florida. The 23 players at Stix N Stones Billiards at this past weekend's Pechauer Southeast 9-Ball Tour were itching to play. It appeared like a normal weekend regional event, but fate would deem otherwise. Day 1, Saturday, came and went as any other weekend tournament. At the end of the day, the final 4 players decided by a unanimous vote to start on Sunday at 10 am. instead of noon or 1 pm, which is customary. Now, as we all know pool players as a rule are not generally considered morning people.
At the designated hour on day 2, three of the four, Scotty Townsend, David Grossman and Richie Orem assembled in the host venue to start the money rounds. But where was Tommy Kennedy? The jovial Kennedy it seemed had not slept very much the previous few days and could not be rousted for his first match against Scotty Townsend. Fortunately for TK, he was on the winner's side of the bracket and good fortune for Townsend who cruised into the hot seat without having to chalk his cue.
Kennedy did arrive in time for his second match. He goodnaturedly shrugged off the forfeit and looked to be hitting very well during his warm-up prep for the match against Richie Orem. They tossed the coin, Orem wins the first break. He breaks and runs out. Game 2 - Orem has the break again, being the event is winner breaks. Then Orem proceeded to run out again. Game 3, deja-vu. Game 4, a pattern is being established, game 5, see where this is going? Yes, Orem broke and ran 9 racks in a row. TK never got out of his seat to shoot a ball and settled for 3rd place.
Orem, after the amazing display of extraordinary table prowess, now faced Scotty Townsend in the finals. Townsend did not appear to be concerned facing someone who had just put a 9-pack together and proceeded to win 11-7. It was an amazing day of poolplaying to say the least and a congratulations must go to all of the finishers. We would also like to acknowledge Tom Potter of Jax, Florida for his assistance in running the event. Additionally the highest lady finisher, WPBA Touring Pro and Board Member Gale Grecar received $50.00. The highest junior finisher was a 3-way tie between Scottie Schwingle Jr., Aaron Bolling, and Kelly Schwingle who each received $17.00. Local non-profit charity Hospice of Palatka received $25.00
Purse:$1640.00 paid out 4 places:
1st Scotty Townsend $700.00
2nd Richie Orem $440.00
3rd Tommy Kennedy $300.00
4th David Grossman $200.00
