Overlapping the Derby City Classic, the 30th Annual Super Bowl 9-Ball Open in Memphis, TN experienced a bit of skill downgrade among the 78 entrants who showed up for the $1,000-added, February 1-3 event. This translated into a weekend of time-extended matches that ultimately led to the mutually-agreed-upon forfeiture of the event's final double-elimination match between Tony Barrington and Carlos Carter, which, had it been played, would have commenced at 1:30 a.m., CST. Barrington and Carter agreed to a split of the top two prizes, allowing Barrington, in the hot seat, to lay claim to the event title.
Though Barrington and Carter, who faced each other only once, in the battle for the hot seat, were to have played in the event's top two key matches, it was Carter and Kenny Loftis, who played the event's most epic matches. They met first among the winners' side final four, as Barrington was busy with Bobby Earl in the other winners' side semifinal. Carter and Loftis battled to double hill before Carter prevailed and met up with Barrington, who'd downed Earl 7-4. Barrington gained the hot seat in what proved to be his final match victory 7-2.
Loftis moved west and picked up Paul Dodge, who'd defeated Adam Oliver and Eck Lauderdale to reach him. Earl drew Blake Todd, who'd gotten by Shannon Sutter and Danny Key. It was Loftis and Todd who advanced to the quarterfinals, won by Loftis 7-2.
This set up a re-match between Loftis and Carter in the semifinals, which, power outage aside, took only slightly less time than the actual Super Bowl. Neither player could develop any 'traction' in the match, which featured repetitive safety play, as each of them watched balls roll too little or too much to create an opening. Back and forth it went, all the way to double hill, at which point Carter prevailed for a second crack at Barrington; a crack he didn't get, as they both agreed to forego the potential two-set final and split the top two prizes.
