 Shannon Daulton, Robert Ray, Larry Nevel, Danny Odom (owner) |
The Great Southern Billiard Tour along with Nick Varner Cues & Cases were at it again this weekend (February 23-24, 2008) in Fayetteville, North Carolina hosting The North Carolina Open at King Street Billiards. This $1500 added main event pulled a strong field of forty-five players, including thirteen free entries for four women and nine military personnel. The field also held a few notable names such as Larry Nevel, Keith Bennett, Tony Morrision, Jared McGee, Eddie Little, Robert Ray, Alan Mixon, Phillip Britt (a.k.a. Ski Bo), and of course Tour Director, Shannon Daulton.
The weekend turned into a repeat from past GSBT events as Larry Nevel started prancing on opponents one after another. Nevel started out Sunday in the final sixteen matched up against Brandon Pureza first off, but quickly sent Pureza to the one-loss side 9-3. Nevel then moved on to best Phillip Britt with the same score and to eventually secure the hot-seat win over Robert Ray 9-5.
Robert Ray had a fantastic go of it himself over the weekend. To get to the hot-seat match with Nevel on Sunday, he sent tour regular Jared McGee 9-6 to the one-loss side and after his loss to Nevel, then bested Walt Bolden 9-5 in the final eight. All the while, Brandon Pureza and Shannon Daulton were working their way to the final four as well with their respective winning sets. Pureza had wins over Wendell Thompkins 9-5 and Walt Bolden 9-5, before loosing to Shannon Daulton 9-5 in the quarter-finals. Daulton came out on top over Jared Mcgee 9-8, Phillip Britt 9-8, and Brandon Pureza 9-5, before Robert Ray silenced him for the weekend 9-6. This slated a re-match between Ray and Nevel in the final round, but Nevel managed to secure top honors and the title of North Carolina Open Champion during this meeting.
Congratulations to both Robert Ray and Larry Nevel for a great event. Also, to Christy Norris who won top woman and $50 for her efforts. Norris made it to the final sixteen on Sunday after holding off several sporty players, but ended her event with a loss to Younger Chapman.
The Sunday only second chance tournament brought in a total of twenty-one players and ended with Eddie Little coming out on top with Joe Williams, Roy Payton and Leonard Edge following shortly behind.
An addition to the new season: For those of you that frequent the tour, the GSBT has started a points system for the 2008 season. The tour will be paying the top sixteen (cash and prizes) at the end of the season. Also, the top points finisher in the ladies and juniors category will recieve a Reeves Custom Cue designed by Larry Nevel. The top 16 earn points for finishing in events as follows:
1st 300 points
2nd 250 points
3rd 200 points
4th 150 points
5th/6th 100 points
7th/8th 75 points
9th-12th 50 points
13th-16th 25 points
17th and below 10 points
Special thanks to King Street Billiards (www.kingstreetbilliards.com) for their hospitality and exceptional service. The tour will make its next stop into Weekends Pub in Goose Creek, South Carolina March 8-9, 2008 – this event will be played on bar tables for those of you that are interested. For additional information about this or future stops, please contact Shannon Daulton at (865) 850-4572.
Results (main event):
1st $1000 Larry Nevel
2nd $500 Robert Ray
3rd $300 Shannon Daulton
4th $200 Brandon Pureza
5/6th $100 Walt Bolden, Phillip Britt
7th/8th $70 Wendell Thompkins, Jared McGee
9th-12th $30 Younger Chapman, Eddie Little, Danny Odom, Mark Warren
Results (second chance):
1st $250 Eddie Little
2nd $125 Joe Williams
3rd $45 each Roy Payton, Leonard Edge
