Johnny Archer has won the inaugural Tennessee State 8-Ball Open held at Phil Windham’s Chattanooga Billiard Club. This was a true double-elimination final TD’d by Steve McDonald and Archer had a tough and determined Jason Klatt to overcome in an effort that required both available sets in the finals.
When the last eight players came in to work on Sunday the winner’s side of the charts was still populated by Johnny Archer, Robb Saez, Jeremy Jones, and Jason Klatt. The four representatives from the one-loss side were Ramil Gallego, Antonio Lining, Eric Durbin and Nick Varner.
All four tables were gong at once and two of the players from the one-loss side would be eliminated in this round. Both of these matches were close. Ramil Gallego defeated traveling partner Antonio Lining on the hill at 6-5. Then Eric Durbin ended the run of Nick Varner as he controlled the later stage of the match to win 6-4.
Our winner’s side matches found Johnny Archer besting Robb Saez 6-4 and Jeremy Jones missing nothing as he beat a newly more deliberate Jason Klatt 6-3. Klatt has noticeably slowed his pace but one cannot argue with the results he is getting. He is shooting extremely well as his finish here this week demonstrates.
Our 2:30 round featured the two one-loss matches that would drop our field to only four players. Robb Saez maintained both his table skills and his composure as he cooly won the case game to send Gallego home 6-5. Jason Klatt gave Eric Durbin little air or wiggle room and sent Durbin to the stands with a 6-2.
On the winner’s side we still had both Jeremy Jones and Johnny Archer. In this match Archer found a sure-fire way to beat Jeremy Jones - don’t let him to the table. Archer dominated with run outs and total control so complete that he beat his good friend 6-1 to claim the Hot Seat.
Now only Jones and Klatt were left to threaten Archer. They did battle in our Semi-Finals and gave us yet another epic hill-hill match. Klatt came out on top 6-5 and Jones was resigned to third place.
As mentioned, the finals between Archer and Klatt were true double-elimination. Klatt would have to beat Archer twice in order to win. The first set saw Klatt go out to a two rack lead at 2-0 only to have Archer win the next two to tie us up. The real difference in this set was the break. Klatt was making balls and shooting while suffering only a single dry break in the entire match while Archer was dry on three of his first four attempts, turning the table over each time. Klatt played cautiously and made no fatal errors. He forced a second set with a double-hill 6-5 win over Archer.
The final set found better breaks from Archer with the exception of a single scratch in rack four. Klatt won the first rack but then Archer won four games in a row. Klatt was unfazed. He just replied by winning the next four racks to take the lead in the match 5-4 and stand on the hill. Archer never flinched. He just went to work, won the next two racks and claimed the Championship.
See more details in the upcoming Billiards Buzz.
